Final preparations at hospital to receive Basu’s donated body

Communist leaders Prakash Karat, Biman Bose, Nirupam Sen and others carry the body of veteran leader Jyoti Basu to place it inside the Peace Haven Morgue in Kolkata.

Doctors and staff of the Anatomy department of the State-run S.S.K.M. hospital have been making preparations to receive the body of Marxist leader Jyoti Basu on Tuesday.

A meeting was called on Monday at the hospital, by Health minister Suryakanta Mishra, with doctors and officials of the Anatomy department and the Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research (IPGMER).

“Basu’s body will be used for medical study and research by students and research fellows,” doctors at the hospital said, while declining to give further details.

“As a communist, I am pledged to serve humanity till my last breath. I am happy now I will continue to serve even after my death,” Mr. Basu had written while pledging to donate his body at a function organised in 2003 by ‘Ganadarpan’, an NGO.

Mr. Basu had also pledged his eyes, which were removed after his death on Sunday by doctors of Sushrut Eye Foundation at Salt Lake.

“Basu’s corneas have been kept for the Muktakeshi eye foundation,” CPI(M) sources said.

CPI(M) leader and former Land and Land Revenue minister Benoy Krishna Chowdhury and former State CPI(M) secretary Anil Biswas had also donated their bodies after death.