West Bengal: Govt to revise body donation policy

Kolkata: The period when families of the deceased can donate a body to any state-run medical college is likely to be expanded by seven hours. A change in regulations on body donations is being proposed, and the health department is likely to implement the changes soon. On Thursday, all heads of anatomy departments of state-run medical colleges deliberated on the regulations.

So far, kin could donate a body between 11 am to 4 pm. Once the new protocol comes into effect, the timing will be from 9 amto 9 pm.

All medical colleges will have a nodal officer to coordinate donations. They will have a WhatsApp group for coordination so that in case a medical college doesn’t have the space to take in the body, the family can be directed to the college that does have space.

If a family comes to hospital after 9pm, the hospital must arrange for the body to be kept in the mortuary so the procedure can be done the next day. Only passport and Aadhaar will be valid for proceeding with the donation. For foreign nationals, formalities must be done via the respective country’s embassy or office in India.

Though Bengal is one of the states with the most body donations due to the movement by Ganadarpan, there has been instances of families alleging confusion and delay. Health officials said once the rules are implemented, most of these issues will be solved.