Friday, March 4, 2011

Dissection Hall: Where the dead sacrifice, for the living.





I have been a medical aspirant all my life, but i didn't know that being a medical student in a government college would only remain a dream for the rest of my life. Thanks to the Great Indian Population and not to forget, Reservations. Even though i can't have those golden letters prefixed to my name ever again, yet i keep myself updated about the latest happenings in the Medical field. Sometimes, i feel i have been totally misplaced as a student. But then truth is; everyone else is too. 90% of engineers in India have no interest in Engineering actually, looking into these facts i feel quite at ease thinking, "I am not the only one. This is India and it happens."

For every medical student, the most agitating moments usually are when they enter the D.H for the first time, THE DISSECTION HALL. This is the reason D.H is finally called THE DARAWNA HALL, meaning "The Haunted Hall." D.H. is the place where all the future doctors and surgeons are trained on cadavers; this is where they know anything and everything about the human body, so that they can operate on the living human bodies.

Recently i went through a Dissection video from a college, where the students were almost making fun of the Cadaver. They called it "Cadaver Fashion", they were doing various make up work on the dead body, putting wigs on it. Few of the students were giggling behind the camera. I personally felt how bad it was, it must have been somebody's son, somebody's brother, somebody's father, someone's husband whom, his wife used to love like hell, and now it was nothing more than a dead body. Nothing! Did you notice i used the word "it" for addressing; Non-living. As told by a medical student,” I’ll never donate my body for any research purpose, because only i know what happens with the body. Each and every part of the body is torn apart. Each and every muscle and fascias are ripped off the bones. Each and every organ of the body is cut, cut into small bits and pieces. There is nothing left in the rib cage. The body becomes hollow." The body which once used to be a human; a living one, with his own identification. He might also have been to some school, might have been the topper there, or maybe he had been really a good person. When i came to know that few of the medical students (Not all, mind you) actually do play with the parts… They cut the muscles into square shapes and tell each other,"Le barfi kha." and they start laughing as if they have achieved something great. I don’t' know if they have ever thought that if the same thing happens to his body, how'd his soul feel. It’s a dead body, sure; but it doesn’t mean you can make fun of it. It can't say anything when you cut its muscles apart and throw them, in the garbage box to be incinerated.
As said by a medical student, “No one can teach you Human Anatomy better than a cadaver. It’s the best teacher of Human Anatomy." Yes, it’s like a teacher in fact, more than a teacher. It sacrifices even its body for the sake of research for teaching its students. It doesn’t shout, when you cut its skin. It doesn’t scream, when you tear its muscles. It doesn't cry, when you crush its bones. It makes no noise, it can't talk for itself and how it feels when you play "Barfi game" with its body parts. Indian Educational System in the earlier days believed in "Guru Dakhchhina." Those dead people don't expect anything from us, they don't need anything. There is nothing we can give them to make their souls happy. At least we can respect those departed souls and handle their body, as we handle our books. If not, at least we should stop playing games with the body. No one can sacrifice more than a cadaver to teach, it loses its body, its identification forever. Don't make it lose its respect. Don't hurt their souls if you can’t make them happy. That's the least we can do for them, isn't it?
P.S- My article seems to be against medical students but FYI, I never intended to mean anything like that. Medical Student have to do it so that they can learn for US. I respect Doctors and what they do for us. My article is against "THOSE"   few insensitive people.

16 comments:

  1. It's very sad that people don't respect the dead body, Sumit, I felt the humiliation and heard the cruel laughter in the autopsy room but not all students are like that. I have pledged my organs and pray that they help some needy person live a healthier life.
    Meanwhile , posts like yours can create awareness and help them see the folly of their ways. A brilliant and humanitarian post.Thanks for sharing. It's so wonderfully vulnerable.

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  2. Sumit,I have gone through something similar to this..and it hurts,rips you apart..to know that someone you love is actually treated like this.

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  3. @Sulekkha :) Thank you.. i wanted to write about this from a long time, finally its done. i am happy :)

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  4. @Alpana :)i know it does.... but that's the way it is...

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  5. Good Morning.
    I found this very interesting. You have readers from outside India ( myself as 1) One of the reasons I read blogs is to learn about different cultures. If you or Alphana ( remember me Alphana :) could write more about why and what it is in India that I have been a medical aspirant all my life, but i didn't know that being a medical student in a government college would only remain a dream for the rest of my life. Thanks to the Great Indian Population and not to forget, Reservations. "

    I would find that a very interesting story .

    http://jpweddingphotograpy.blogspot.com/2011/03/congratulations-kathy-jason-wendy-and.html

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  6. Am still seeing the legs sumit... thanks

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  7. @jim thnx for the comment :) and yes for sure will tell you aby it

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  8. My brother is a gynec and I know he tells me stories very similar to yours. I think medical students after a point get desensitized about dead people, for them the body is just a means to learn and not someone that had a life at one point. For that matter doctors do become very detached because they cannot afford to get sentimental about their patients but you are right there is something called dignity even after death. Very interesting post Sumit. As usual enjoyed reading it

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  9. @Rimly :)True :) Its not that they are bad, they have to do it. FOR US,for our well being :)

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  10. i have nothing against medical students... it's the first time i've heard of such an incident though...

    frankly speaking, as a nurse, i've never held a dead person's body before... my caregiving class entitled me to a few modules on postmortem care... but i never actually had it practiced...

    we give care in its totality---prenatal til death... in all aspects from physical to spiritual... but i wouldn't go further on what makes doctors different from nurses :)

    but yes, respect and dignity is due a person til death...

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  11. ooopsss... no harm meant in what i wrote sumit :P...

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  12. great job sumit...a post with a strong message...
    hats off to your efforts!!

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  13. @Nandini Thank you so much, and nice to see you back :)

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  14. s it is interesting,to make a note of people u donot know the value of a book,teacher, a first patient is cadaver.

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