Berhampur: Family members of a businessman in Odisha’s Berhampur town donated his body to the government-run MKCG Medical College Hospital here Wednesday for research, an official said.
Donating bodies for medical research is not uncommon in the country, but in this case, the businessman did not pledge his body. It was his family’s decision to hand it over to the medical college for the help of research.
The body of Jammula Satyanarayana (66) was handed over to the college authorities by his family members in the presence of his relatives and friends. Before donating his body, they also donated his two eyes to the eye department of the medical college.
“The donated body will be helpful to the students for their studies and research purposes,” said Head of the Department of Anatomy, Sagar Prusty, who received the body.
The body has been embalmed to protect it from decomposition, he said.
The deceased was the elder brother of Jammula Suresh, an activist who campaigned for blood and organ donation in the city.
“Though he (Satyanarayana) had not pledged to donate his body earlier, we have decided to donate his eyes and body for the benefit of others,” said Suresh.
“Amid the grief, we feel proud as his cadavers will benefit several medical students of the college for their studies and research works,” said J Vamsi, son of the deceased.
Satyanarayana died in the morning of a heart attack while undergoing treatment at the same medical college and hospital here.
Prusty said it was the fourth body donation to the medical college this year, and 26th in the last seven years.
PTI