Five members of a single family in Chamarajanagar have donated their bodies for medical science as “anatomical gift” and have inspired hundreds to follow suit by spreading awareness on the importance of body donation.
Head of the family is P. Manoraj, who is the personal secretary of Chamarajanagar MP R. Dhruvanarayan, his wife S. Geetha and their three children have taken the noble initiative. “We pledged our bodies t0 the JSS Medical College in Mysore in March 2011. Since then, we have been campaigning at various levels promoting body donation. Today, around 3,500 people have donated their bodies to the JSS Medical College. It was our individual decision and no one forced us. We are trying to educate people on the importance of body donation,” Mr. Manoraj told Deccan Chronicle.
Geetha is a beautician, elder son Rakshak is an MBA graduate, younger son Harshak is a B.Com student at Maharaja’s College and daughter Sumadhura is studying in the sixth standard. All of them have signed the agreement papers with the JSS Medical College. “My view is that instead of burning them, our eyes and kidneys can help other needy people and the body can be used by students for anatomy,” Mr. Manoraj said.
In addition to basic anatomy, donated bodies are also used for teaching surgery, orthopedics, ophthalmology, cardiology, neurology, and other specialty fields. Millions of lives have been saved world wide, and countless individuals enjoy optimum health today because of anatomical study using donated human gifts, he said emphasising the need for body donation.
Mr. Manoraj faced stiff opposition from his community members over body donation. He accepted the criticism and carried on with his good work. Each member the family carries a ‘body donor’ identity card which helps in passing the information to medical college in case of an untimely death. “This is because our eyes and kidneys should be secured within 30 minutes of our death,” he says. Making light of weighty issues comes naturally to Mr Maoraj, who is a former director of the Tumkur Laughter Club.