The Hindu : Front Page : All for a life beyond death

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jan 19, 2006

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All for a life beyond death

G. Ravikiran

VIJAYAWADA: Body donation, a unique concept introduced by Siddhartha Medical College (SMC), Chinavutapally, has motivated several conscious senior citizens to enrol themselves as members. It did not stop there, as the word-of-mouth publicity by educated people led to donation of two bodies from unexpected quarters recently. In all, 14 people above 70 years of age have given their consent letters to the college till now.

B. Phani Krishna, manager (AP), PVS Laboratories, helped his father-in-law Bandi Satyanarayana donate his body parts after his death. Satyanarayana, aged 52 years, was suffering from an unchecked fall in protein values of his blood. As death was certain, he wanted to "continue to live" through his body parts implanted in others. They could not find medical facilities for receiving body parts. At a get-together, Mr. Phani Krishna came to know about the body donation concept of SMC.

Consent letters

After Satyanarayana succumbed to his ailment a few days ago, Mr. Krishna contacted the SMC authorities and informed them about Satyanarayana's wish. His three daughters and their husbands came to the college and signed the consent letters. Signing consent letters is compulsory to avoid any future complications.

Mr. Phani Krishna said his mother-in-law had not opposed the idea too, as it was all for a purpose and a cause. He said after this experience, his father had also agreed to enrol for the body donation. College officials were surprised by the awareness among the public. SMC administrative officer P.Shiva Prasad said that support was coming from unexpected quarters. "People like Phani Krishna are helping a lot. By word of mouth, it has got publicity," he said.

Every year, the college would require 16 human bodies for demonstrating dissections and surgeries to the students. As per the guidelines, the medical college should have one body for study purpose of every 10 students. The private medical colleges were required to pay Rs. 15,000 per body to the Osmania General Hospital (OGH). SMC has eceived seven bodies from the OGH till now this academic year.

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