AIIMS-Patna is publicising its body donation programme so that the health care hub gets cadavers for its MBBS students to practise anatomy lessons on.
The anatomy department of the super-speciality hospital will organise camps to motivate people to donate their bodies after death. People or patients wishing to sign up for the programme can fill up the required form, either after fetching it from the anatomy department or downloading it from the hospital website, www.aiimspatna.org.
"Those wanting to donate their body after death are supposed to share their wish with their immediate family members before taking a final decision," said in-charge of the anatomy department Padamjeet Panchal. "After this, the person can register for the body-donation programme."
Four people have already registered with AIIMS, Panchal said. Those who sign up for the donation programme get a donor card with a registration number. "We will not accept bodies that have been damaged for various reasons, such as in an accident or from any illness, including HIV, tuberculosis, hepatitis and gangrene," he said.
The anatomy department will show the masses videos of famous people who have pledged to donate their body so that they realise how donation will help the medical field.
Dissecting a cadaver is an essential part in medical training because it helps students understand how the human body works. But at AIIMS-Patna, 100 MBBS students have to depend on one cadaver to practice dissection. The students depend on a special set of offline and online videos, Acland's anatomy, for anatomy lessons.
"There is nothing better than hands-on-training in an anatomy lab," said a first-year MBBS student on condition of anonymity. "Anatomy classes are introduced in the first year of MBBS so that students can understand its clinical value. It is best taught through cadaver dissection and knowledge derived from the videos. If students learn about anatomy through cadaver dissection in addition to the videos, it can only add value."
Panchal said his department would continue to use anatomy videos. "We have found that MBBS students don't like to dissect bodies which have been preserved for long because of the pungent smell," he said. "Dead bodies are preserved with formalin (a chemical) and always give off a pungent odour. Getting cadavers through body donation can solve the problem because it will ensure that students get bodies that are preserved for lesser duration. However, we have decided to continue teaching students with the videos too, as students can watch a video again and again but not dissect a body part that has already been worked on."
The hospital has also floated a tender to purchase another anatomy software. "The best anatomy softwares are made in Germany and Australia. We are hoping to get a good anatomy software within a month through the tender process," Panchal said.