Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad   

Dead man still kicking!

By Dennis Marcus Mathew

HYDERABAD, DEC. 7. Dead men tell no tales. But Edavalari Ganesha Lingam, who died a natural death on September 11 this year, is different.

For many, the body of Lingam lying on a table in Gandhi Medical College's (GMC) Anatomy Department could just be another cadaver, used for dissection and theory classes for medical students.

For many others visiting the ongoing MEDEX-2004 medical exhibition his body could be one of the striking and original exhibits. But there are a few who know that Lingam's body was destined to be at GMC. He himself wanted it so.

A senior manager with Bharat Dynamics Limited (BDL) before retiring, Chennai-born 79-year-old Lingam had decided long ago that his body had to be donated to a medical college. The GMC authorities say Lingam, a law graduate from Madras University, used to repeatedly remind them to take away his body after his death.

Last reminder

"In fact, two days before his demise, Lingam came here to remind us. His aim was to set an example in organ donation and always used to tell others, including his colleagues, to donate their organs and bodies," says Gandhi, Professor at the Anatomy Department.

"We were surprised initially because it was for the first time that somebody came here and persuaded us to keep his body. This man was rare, and quite motivational too," he says.

Lingam's enthusiasm, whose eyes were donated to Sarojini Devi Eye Hospital, to promote organ donations, had rubbed off on his family as well. His mother, brother and sister are also among those whose bodies were donated to various medical colleges.

Cadaver shortage

However, Lingam's aspiration to donate himself is an isolated case. Despite his benevolence, the GMC is facing shortage of cadavers with students, 20 of them and at times even more, having to share one to study different organs and to do dissections as well.

Though the Indian Medical Council stipulates that there should be one cadaver for every 10 students, the 150 students of GMC, who have to do a complete dissection of the human body in the first year, are denied this.

Students, with a few persons like Lingam around, have to depend on unclaimed bodies, most of them mutilated accident victims. And that too, standing in a queue.

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