Kolkota: An 89 year-old cancer patient in West Bengal has donated his body to Covid-19 research in the country. Nirmal Das, who was diagnosed as Covid-positive a few days before his death, had elected to donate his body to science.
An official told Hindustan Times that Nirmal Das was a resident of the New Town area of the city. "Nirmalbabu's body will be donated to the forensic department of RG Kar Medical College on Saturday," he said.
The first woman to donate her body to Covid-19 research in May 2021, 93 year-old Jyotsna Bose, was also from West Bengal. A statement issued by the non-profit organisation, 'Ganadarpan', also said that Jyotsna Bose is the second person from West Bengal after its founder Brojo Roy, to have got a pathological autopsy conducted on her body at a state-run hospital here, following death due to Covid-19.
Another victim of the contagion, ophthalmologist Dr Biswajit Chakraborty's remains have also been donated for the same purpose, making him the third such person in the state.
Ganadarpan was taken over by Sudipta Saha Roy, who aims to follow in the footsteps of the former Communist who founded the body donation foundation, continuing a tradition that had been prevalent in Bengal. Notable Communist leaders such as former chief minister Jyoti Basu, Benoy Choudhury, and Anil Biswas were also donated.
"Ganadarpan got its registration certificate in 1980. On November 5, 1986, (Brojo) Roy and 33 of his friends pledged to donate their bodies. Since then, 3,000 bodies have been donated, including that of (Brojo) Roy who died on May 13 at the age of 84," Roy told the media
The Left front in Bengal has been encouraging of donating bodies to research and for purposes of organ donation since last century, which has seen a readiness amongst Bengalis to give their bodies over to scientific scrutiny. In July of 2021, the Hindustan Times reported that over 13 bodies had been donated over the previous two months, 9 of them belonging to Covid-19 patients who succumbed to the disease.
The state health department encourages people to donate organs through its State Organ Tissue Transplantation Organisation. The state registered 34 fatalities which pushed the toll to 20,515, the health bulletin reported on Saturday. There were 9 Covid-19 deaths in North 24 Parganas district and eight in the city. In the last 24 hours, 13,767 recoveries were reported taking the total number of people recovering from the disease to 19,20,423.