Buddhadeb pledges body for medical reseaech

Kolkata, May 31 (UNI) West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacherjee has signed a formal pledge to donate his body for the cause of medical research.

Mr Brojo Roy, general secretary of NGO 'Ganadarpan', told UNI today, ''The chief minister gave a written declaration that his eyes and body organs would be donated for the cause scientific research.

''He signed an agreement with us at the CPI(M) party office at Alimuddin street yesterday and the organisation gave him a Donor's card,'' he added.

State Commerce and Industries Minister Nirupam Sen and State secretariat member Madan Ghosh were the signatories in the pledge.

''The residence address of the chief minister in the pledge form is the CPI(M) party office,'' Mr Roy said.

By signing the formal pledge, Mr Bhattacherjee joined other Communist leaders like Jyoti Basu, Somnath Chatterjee and Biman Bose who have pledged their bodies for medical research. The late CPI(M) state secretary, Mr Anil Biswas, had also donated his body for the same cause.

The chief minister had expressed his desire to donate his body three months ago to Kolkata mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, who is also a functionary of 'Ganadarpan'.

The NGO secretary said about 200,000 people in the state have pledged their bodies so far while some 700 bodies had already been donated for medical research. Such pledges can help overcome shortage of organs in India.

Mr Roy said the medical students were unable to do autopsy, which is must for them.

Quoting the Medical Council of India, Mr Roy said the council had said that a student must do at least 10 autopsies.

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