No cadavers for Andhra Pradesh medical colleges

Vijayawada: Despite being ready to pay up to Rs 1 lakh for a cadaver, private medical colleges in Andhra Pradesh are hard pressed to find any for teaching purposes.

Medical colleges acquire cadavers of destitute persons for dissection through government hospitals after completion of formalities. The cadavers are given to the government colleges on priority and then to the private colleges.

Dr U. Surya Kumari, superintendent of Government General Hospital, Vijayawada, said, “If the cops say that they do not have any details of the dead person, we give the cadaver to the Siddhartha Government Medical College. Cadavers will be given to private colleges only if there are enough. SMC needs more bodies and we cannot meet the demand.”

Though private colleges are ready to pay up to Rs 1 lakh for a cadaver, they are unable to get them. Dr Y. V. Sarma, principal, GSL Medical College, Rajahmundry, said, “We haven’t received any cadavers from the hospitals for the past three years. We wrote to the authorities and the health minister, but it was of no use.”

MCI renewals require colleges to have sufficient cadavers, but colleges pass inspections by borrowing cadavers from hospitals and other colleges.