MGM Medical College supplying cadavers to others

INDORE: Two years ago, scene of anatomical examination from Sanjay Dutt’s hit 'Munna Bhai MBBS’ was seen at MGM Medical College with large number of students surrounding a cadaver, trying to gauge the intricacies of the body. Now, the scene has changed, it has become the only college in the state to have surplus cadavers, thanks to the body donation awareness campaigns and innovative sops offered by the Indore Organ Donation Society.
“We have become the first college in the state to supply cadavers to other medical colleges,” the society secretary Dr Sanjay Dixit told TOI.
The college has over 50 cadavers – bodies donated by people for medical studies. It is now supplying cadavers to other colleges, including those in Rewa, Gwalior and Jabalpur. In 2013, it had only four cadavers to cater to around 150 MBBS first year students.
According to the Medical Council of India (MCI), a cadaver should be provided among 20 students for study. The society started an awareness drive to motivate people to donate their bodies in different communities. Special vehicles were deployed to ‘transport with respect’ the bodies donated by people from their homes.
“The drives yielded fruits. The college’s anatomy department doctors were put on a roaster duty to make available someone for speaking to donors for 24 hours. The department was operational even on Sundays,” said Dr Dixit, who also heads the college’s community medicine department.
A checklist was created to educate people about the exclusion criteria for the body donations, including diseases like tuberculosis, HIV, bed sores and medico legal cases.The society also started offering insurance scheme to one of the relatives of the donor. “We now offer Rs3 lakh insurance cover for five years to one of the relatives of the donor as an incentive,” he said.
As a result, the college now receives around three to four bodies donated by relatives of the dead every month. It has recently supplied 10 cadavers to medical college in Rewa.
“We have been supplying cadavers to local hospitals like Sri Aurbindo Institute of Medical Sciences and Index Medical College. We also have received requests from Gwalior and Jabalpur. Dental and Ayurveda colleges are also asking for cadavers,” Dr Dixit said.
The bodies donated are preserved in formalin and embalmed. It lasts for around 12 years. A body is used by the students for a period of one to one and a half years to study anatomy.