RAIPUR: While the medical colleges are known to face a shortage of human bodies or cadavers for academic and research aims or to acquire anatomical knowledge, the situation seems more pressing for the Baliram Kashyap Memorial Medical College in tribal-dominated Bastar, south Chhattisgarh.
The government medical college, running low on getting cadavers, had organised a singular occasion where the body is treated with respect and dignity of the highest order by the fresh batch of candidates admitted in the MBBS course and the concerned department academics, citing it as ‘First Anatomy teacher’.
The anatomy department professors in the medical college along with the students took oath ahead of the beginning of the academic session of the first year had solemnly pledged to treat the cadavers with respect, ensuring confidentiality and privacy, use the knowledge acquired for better service of the society and expressed gratitude to the body and its family for the act cited as ‘Living After Death’.
“It’s a Cadaveric Oath taken by the new MBBS batch students of 2024. The practice is undertaken prior to the commencing of anatomy dissection, which is essential for the first-year medical students. They swear statements affirming to respect and maintain confidentiality of cadavers (embalmed human body) regards it as the ‘First Teacher’ in their career path of MBBS”, Dr Bithika Nel Kumar, Associate Professor and HOD (Department of Anatomy) told this newspaper.
It’s a known fact that medical students cannot acquire skill or gain a better understanding just by going through theories.
“We have a shortage of cadavers in remote areas like Bastar apparently owing to the lack of awareness and cultural reasons. So, such practice helps to facilitate public awareness through conveying virtuous messages by taking an oath. The people gradually become conscious to realise about the noble act of body donation”, the HOD said.
The professors in the medical college of Bastar believe that for the anatomy classes, there cannot be any applied alternative to cadavers for the students during their learning as they need to get the feel of dissecting the actual human body.
The Union Home Ministry for health too realised the shortage of cadavers and in July this year asked the states to encourage people to donate dead bodies on deaths happening outside hospitals.