Berhampur: The body of a 94-year-old retired professor of medicine, who had served in three medical colleges in state, has been donated to the government-run-MKCG Medical College here. The body and eyes of the retired physician, Prafulla Chandra Sahu, were donated Wednesday to the medical college authorities by his sons Lalatendu Sahu and Bibudhendu Sahu, in the presence of his relatives and several social activists.
“As per his last wish, we decided to donate his eyes and body to the medical college,” Lalatendu Sahu said. Before donating the body, his eyes were donated to the medical college’s eye department, he said. Sahu pledged to donate his body July 30, 2019, and gave a letter to the anatomy department of the medical college in this regard. The body will be helpful to the students for their studies and research purposes at the department, Sagar Prusty, a professor of the Department of Anatomy, at the medical college, said. Sahu, a professor of medicine, served in three government medical colleges at Berhampur, Cuttack and Burla during his service period. He was also associated with different social organisations in the state and rendered free health services to poor people.
Several eminent people, including Berhampur MLA K Anil Kumar, former MLAs Ramesh Chandra Chyau Patnaik and Bikram Kumar Panda visited his house to pay tribute to Sahu after he died. It was the fifth body donation to the medical college this year, which has received 34 bodies in the last 12 years. “We are happy as more people come forward to donate the bodies after their death,” Prusty said. He said there was no problem storing bodies, as the hospital can accommodate around 40 cadavers. Besides catering to the needs of MKCG, cadavers have been given to other new medical colleges, he added.
