Body donation is donating or gifting the body for medical research and education purposes. The donated bodies are used by the medical students and researchers to study and understand the basic structure or anatomy of human body.
According to the Anatomy Act, 1949, hospitals and teaching medical institutions are provided with unclaimed bodies and can accept whole body donations for the purpose of anatomical examination, dissection and other similar purposes.
Body donations are highly valued and respected by the staff and students of medical colleges and hospitals. They receive cadavers from voluntary donors and unclaimed bodies provided by the Police. These bodies are embalmed and preserved to be used to teach human anatomy and to learn life-saving surgical procedures like vascular surgeries and internal organs. Body donation will benefit the medical students in mastering human anatomy and surgical techniques that can save lives. Each cadaver is a new source of knowledge with variations, finest source of gaining knowledge, more than any text book or computer. Cadavers help in developing psychomotor skills by dissecting to medical students.
Some of the prominent personalities that have donated their bodies for medical research are Jyoti Basu (popular communist leader and ex-chief minister of West Bengal) and Nanaji Deshmukh (JanaSangh leader).
Guidelines and Instructions to the Donor and Near Relatives:
- 1. The legal heirs or near relatives may be requested to intimate the death of the donor to the Dean / Superintendent / Resident Medical Officer.
- 2. The body of the said donor after death, should be transported without lapse of time(preferably within 8-24 hours) to the concerned Govt. Medical College /Government General Hospital.
- 3. The said body should be accompanied by a death certificate issued by a competent authority clearly indicating the cause and time of death.
- 4. The body will be received on all working days from 8.30 to 3.30 pm at the Department of Anatomy. During non-working hours and holidays the body can be kept in the Mortuary of the hospital on necessary request to the Resident Medical Officer of the hospital and the same intimated to the Department at the earliest opportunity.
- 5. The Death should be natural and /or due to naturally occurring diseases. The body will not be accepted in cases of Medico-legal issues, suicide and poisoning. It is advised and recommended that potential donors and their relatives make alternate arrangements in case the body donation is declined by the medical college due to certain medical conditions or requirement of post-mortem or autopsy or lack of requirement, which can arise unexpectedly.
Body donation Process
Please get in touch with Government Medical Colleges or Private Medical Colleges permitted to accept voluntary whole body donations in your city and register your wish to donate whole body after death by filling the voluntary whole body donation form. Please click on the links provided below to get see the hospitals and medical colleges permitted and sample body donation form.
NOTE: Organ Donor India is only an information website and does not accept voluntary whole body donations.
