“Unclaimed bodies can beused for educational purpose''

Principal Health Secretary V.K. Subburaj inspecting the new Orthopaedic Cadaver Skills Lab at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai on Monday. R.H. Govardhan (left), director, Institute of Orthopaedics, explaining some of the facilities to him. C. Vamsadhara (right), Director of Medical Education, and V. Kanagasabai, Dean, Madras Medical College, are in the picture. Photo: R. Ragu

Unclaimed bodies lying in government hospital mortuaries must be embalmed and used for educational purposes such as dissections, V.K. Subburaj, Principal Secretary, Health, said.

There were a large number of unclaimed bodies, damaged beyond recognition, from railway track and road traffic accidents that were being piled up in mortuaries. If some fund allocation could be made to embalm and preserve them, then those cadavers too could be used by students in anatomy classes and by those in various specialisations, he added.

Speaking at the launch of the Orthopaedic Cadaveric Skills Laboratory at the Madras Medical College here, he said the government had also simplified the procedures to donate the whole body at the medical colleges, in order to increase the availability of cadavers.

Mr. Subburaj also gave the public-private partnership arrangement a thumbs-up, adding that it helped overcome the process-related delays that are part of the government set up. “It may take up to two years or even more between sanction for a scheme and actual implementation in the normal course. For example it took two years for the budget announcement that digital x-rays would be provided at all government hospitals to be followed up, and the machines provided.”

PPP mode

The easiest way to overcome these delays is the PPP mode. The government was also considering public private partnerships, where one hospital could help out other smaller centres in the same area, he added.

C. Vamsadhara, Director of Medical Education, said it was a PPP that enabled setting up of the skills lab.

DePuy Johnson and Johnson had provided funds, to the tune of Rs.34 lakh, to construct the lab. The lab is the first of its kind in the country in the public healthcare set up, according to R.H. Govardhan, director, Institute of Orthopaedics and Traumatology. He said it would be a great boon for training students. He also urged members of the public to come forward and donate their body for research purposes.

I. Jayaraj, director (in charge), Institute of Anatomy, said the new lab has a cooling room to preserve bodies without embalming; a room with six dissection tables, and a viewers' gallery.

All departments can use the facility for the benefit of students, he added.