West Bengal Chief Minister pledges to donate his body

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

General secretary of Ganadarpan Brojo Roy told UNI today,'' The Chief Minister gave a written declaration that his eyes and body organs would be donated for the cause of scientific research.'' He has 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.

With signing the formal pledge, Mr Bhattacharjee joined other communist leaders like Jyoti Basu, Somnath Chatterjee, Late Anil Biswas and Biman Bose who have also pledged their bodies for medical research.

The chief minister had expressed his desire to donate his body three months back 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. These kinds of pledges can help to overcome shortage of organs in India.

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

Quoting Medical Council of India, Mr Roy said the council has said a student must do at least 10 autopsy.

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