Dept of Anatomy unaware of source

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Dept of Anatomy unaware of source

as reported in newindpress.com | Saturday August 9 2008, Byju Aryad | ENS

KOCHI: How private medical colleges in the state are getting cadavers for anatomical dissection? The Department of Anatomy of the medical colleges in the state, which is supposed to take possession of the body of the deceased person and hand it over to the authority of the teaching institution, says that it is not aware of the method by which the medical institutions get the cadavers.

According to a Right to Information Act statement received from the Department of Anatomy, Thrissur Medical College, there are eight self-financing medical colleges and two cooperative medical colleges in the state.

The statement said that private medical colleges are in possession of cadavers but the department says that they are not aware how they are getting the dead bodies.

Unidentified bodies and bodies of those who had given consent for anatomical dissection from medical colleges, district hospitals and taluk hospitals are usually taken under possession by the Anatomy Department of the medical colleges. There are no provision for the medical colleges to transfer the dead bodies directly to private medical colleges.

It is also pointed out that the government is seriously considering to enact a law enabling the private medical colleges to take the body after paying a specified fee. There are also provision for taking possession of dead bodies from voluntary organisations or old age homes.

On the RTI filed by M K Haridas of The Proper Channel on unidentified bodies transferred to the Anatomy Department of medical colleges, it was said that unidentified bodies can be given to medical colleges coming under the limits of that particular police station.

The statements given from various police stations in the state say that they have not given any body to medical colleges.
A report on the Indian Journal of Medical Ethics said that each batch of 100 students needs one body and a medical college will require about 10 cadavers per year. In Kerala, 100 cadavers are needed for private and cooperative medical colleges a year and it is not provided by the Anatomy Department.

The journal said that cadavers have also been erroneously or unethically labelled ‘unclaimed’ and they have been distributed for teaching - a practice doing injustice to the dead and their next of kin. The Anatomy Act, enacted by various states in India, provides for the supply of unclaimed bodies to hospitals and medical and teaching institutions for the purpose of anatomical examination and dissection and other similar purposes.

The journal suggested that the Central Government should enact an Act applicable to all states and issue guidelines on identifying ‘unclaimed bodies’ and their distribution to teaching or medical institutions.
It also recommended that the government should make it mandatory for recipient colleges to maintain a register on the source of the body, date of receipt, identification marks, photographs and any findings such as injuries for further identification of cases if required.

Dept of Anatomy unaware of source - Newindpress.com