Guwahati, May 7: Assam has witnessed a rise in the number of people donating their bodies for scientific research.

Eminent historian Amalendu Guha is one of the 50-plus people whose bodies have so far gone to dissection halls of medical colleges in the state. The body of Guha was handed over to Gauhati Medical College and Hospital here this afternoon. Earlier, Guha's corneas were donated to Sri Sankaradeva Nethralaya, a leading eye hospital here.

Ellora Vigyan Mancha, an NGO that pioneered the movement of body and organ donation in the state, said the number of people who have pledged their bodies is also on the rise. Over 600 people have already signed agreements to donate their bodies.

Ishfaqur Rahman, joint secretary of the NGO, told The Telegraph that altogether six persons (including Guha) have donated their bodies for the purpose of research in the GMCH and Tezpur Medical College and Hospital in the last five months.

"Among those six, one was Surjya Brata Lahkar, 86, from the Rehabari area in Guwahati. Interestingly, Lahkar's mother became a sati in 1939. Sati was a practice in which widows were voluntarily or forcibly burned alive on their husband's funeral pyre. I have mentioned Lahkar's mother to draw the point that a family whose past generation believed in superstition has now come forward to donate bodies for scientific research. Such development will go a long way to inspire more people in future to donate bodies," Rahman said.

Rahman said awareness for such a great cause is also spreading fast among the Muslim community in the state, which was otherwise very conservative on the issue. He said while three Muslims have already donated their bodies, the number of people taking the pledge is rising.

Rahman expressed concern that the medical colleges are still suffering from an acute shortage of cadavers in the absence of a proactive role of the government on the issue. He demanded the state government to create necessary infrastructure and facilities to encourage people to donate their bodies and organs. He regretted that the state does not have the facility to preserve organs.

"It is best when one cadaver is shared among six to eight students. But now the position is such that 20 to 30 students dissect one body," a professor at Jorhat Medical College said.

"When bodies of victims of accidents or violence arrive, they have to be dissected during autopsy. As such, the formaldehyde that is used to preserve bodies seeps out through the cuts. Hence, these bodies start decomposing soon," a professor at the GMCH said. A body should be donated within 24 hours of a person's death.

Medical students study the human anatomy during the first two years of their course. Initially, groups of them study a body dividing it into three or four sections. However, at the post-graduate level, students ideally require one body each, depending on their area of specialisation.

Rahman said more people would come forward to pledge their bodies if the government plays a more proactive role.