Around 30 years back, I had an opportunity to visit the Anatomy Department of the Government Medical college, Amritsar. There I noticed the preserved skeleton of the Ex-Head of Anatomy department in a glass box. On my inquiry, I learnt that he had donated his body after his death for medical students to study human anatomy...
On returning to Delhi, I came to know that the subject of Anatomy in medical colleges is taught on a dead body (cadaver) to understand the structure of the human body. But there is an acute scarcity of cadavers, and 40 to 50 students learn on a single cadaver whereas it should not be more than 4-6 students for a thorough knowledge of the subject.
After discussions with my friends, five or six of us went ahead to register our will to donate our body after death. After registering the will, I felt as if I was not the owner of the body but just its trustee. That was truly a spiritual experience. During my days as a Member of Legislative Assembly, Delhi, I got eye flu while supervising the relief work during floods in Delhi. Being extremely busy, I could not get time to see a doctor. Then my father advised me that I had taken a pledge to donate my body after death and was just utilizing this body during my lifetime; thus, it was my moral duty to keep myself healthy so that this body would be useful for medical students for studies.
When our pledge came to the notice of respected national saint Shri Nanaji Deshmukh, he desired to make arrangements for his body donation as well. After discussion with friends, “Dadhichi Deh Dan Samiti” came into existence as a registered society in 1997. During my tenure of twenty years as President, I recall many heart-touching experiences. A very senior officer of the Indian Army, along with his wife, voluntarily decided to donate their bodies after death. After his death, his wife very respectfully set aside stern resistance from her son-in-law and executed her husband’s will to donate his body to a medical college.
Likewise, I recall a South Indian sister who lost her husband at a very young age in an accident. He was declared brain-dead. Alone in the hospital with two small kids, she bravely decided to donate his heart for transplantation. This transplant gave new life to a person. Years later, she was invited to a marriage ceremony in the family of that heart recipient. She hesitated to participate, thinking her presence as a widow might be a bad omen. However, the host insisted and stopped the ceremony, declaring it would only resume if she participated, recognizing her bravery.
To raise awareness of this noble cause, we requested the Hon’ble President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind, to preside over our function and bless us. He invited Samiti to organize the function at Rashtrapati Bhawan itself. On 10th Nov 2017, the function saw the release of Samiti’s book “Body and Organ Donation,” written by Shri Arun Anand and published by Bharat Prakashan, released by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office. The first copy was presented to the Hon’ble President.
Over 20 years, about 1000 volunteers have committed to this cause selflessly. With support, our dream of realizing the Vedic mantra “Sarve Bhavantu Sukhin” might be challenging but is not impossible. I urge everyone to contribute to this spiritual pursuit for humanity with full potential.
- Alok Kumar, Patron – Dadhichi Dehdan Samiti
