No anatomy practical class is being held in the newly opened Palamu Medical College here at Pokhraha Khurd of Daltonganj. Classes were ceremonially declared opened on this September 11, but till date there has not been any practical class of anatomy conducted here in this medical college.
There is no corpse, which can be used for practical here. Principal of the medical college JR Prasad said, “We do not have any corpse right now. There is no arrangement for preserving and handling of it here either and unless the suitable and adequate arrangements are ready for a corpse to stay in this medical college no practical class of anatomy is possible.”
Sources said Hazaribag Medical College somehow managed to have a body for anatomy practical classes, but this college has to get rid of it soon as infections spread over there. Prasad said, “I too have heard of this episode happening there in the Hazaribag medical college, where for infections the college there got rid of it.”
He said very firmly, “Here we will not do that haste in procuring a body at all unless equipped fully to handle it safely to ensure no health hazard to anyone teacher or students or its handler.”
He said experienced staff who has the expertise to deal with maintenance of corpse is a pre requisite besides space and other things for its preservation. No post mortemed body can be used for anatomy practical classes reminded civil surgeon John F Kennedy. A post mortemed body is a ruin for students to learn anything about human anatomy, he added.
Close to this non procurement of body for want of arrangement/ facility here Palamu medical college is coping up with just one anatomy teacher for its 93 enrolled students. Now the big question is how to get a body for medical college? The question is too easy but too difficult to solve.
Body of accident victim, murder, suicide, death driven by disease, unnatural death like drowning, snake biting, fatal fall, death in mass fire cannot be procured as this is a legal issue reminded Kennedy.
He said a charred body, half burnt body, maimed body too is of no use of anatomy practical class. In the same vein he said chopped off body like limbs missing, eyes taken out, earlobes destroyed etc is no fit for students to dissect in their anatomy practical classes.
Then all eyes rest on unclaimed body or body donated. Kennedy said unclaimed body too has a lot of legal angles as if and when police discover it the picture of the body is to be publicized for its identification and for a minimum of 3 days such an unclaimed body is kept in a thin hope of getting its claimant.
If procurement is too tough its preservation is equally a hard task said principal J R Prasad. Embalming of body is a must, he said.
Kennedy said intravenous injection of formalin is administered in the body to save it from decomposition and this administering of IV injection of formalin requires experience and expertise.