Type of Article: Original Research DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.16965/ijar.2016.347 Page No.:  2887-2890

BODY DONATION MYTHS AND PERCEPTION: A CROSS SECTIONAL QUESTIONNAIRE BASED STUDY Dattatray Digambarrao Dombe * 1 , T. Anitha 2 . * 1    Associate   Professor,   Department   of   Anatomy,   Chalmeda      Anandrao   Institute   of   Medical   Sciences,   Bommakal,   Karimnagar,   Telangana, India. 2    Professor   and   Head,   Department   of   Anatomy,   Chalmeda      Anandrao   Institute   of   Medical   Sciences,   Bommakal,   Karimnagar,   Telangana, India. Correspondence   Address:   Dr.   Dattatray   D.   Dombe,   C/O      Dombe      D.      P.,   Bhagyalaxmi   Nagar,   Near   Shankaracharya   Temple,   Basmat   Road, Parbhani, Parbhani (Maharashtra), India – 431401. E-Mail: drdattadombe79@gmail.com ABSTRACT Introduction:   Last   two   decade   experienced   a   sudden   rise   in   number   of   medical   institutions   in   government   and   private   sector   across   India. It   created   a   unique   problem   for   anatomy   teaching,   availability   of   the   cadavers.   Body   donation   is   associated   with   many   taboos   and misconceptions   in   society.   We   hypothesized   that   many   of   the   well-educated   and   willing   persons   are   unaware   of   the   provision   of   body donation. Materials    and    Methods:    This    was    a    questionnaire    based    cross-sectional    prospective    study,    was    approved    by    institutional    ethical committee.      Total   2000   questioners   were   distributed   and   1834   participants   took   part   voluntarily.   Responses   were   analyzed   in   percentage scale by using Microsoft excel 2010. Results:   only   17   percent   of   our   study   population   have   heard   about   body   donation   and   10   percent   believed   in   the   concept   of   body donation   .Major   factors   responsible   were   unawareness   about   the   provision   of   body   donation,   apprehension   about   the   religious   and   social issues,   doubts   about   honor   and   dignity   maintained   in   the   dissection   halls   while   performing   dissections.   Conclusion:   Our   study   highlighted the   issue   of   the   awareness   of   body   donation   in   general   population   and   medical   community   itself.   Awareness   campaign   for   body   donation and sensitization of the students, medical faculty and handlers of cadavers about dignity and respect of the donated body. KEY WORDS: Anatomy Teaching, Cadavers,  Body Donation Awareness, Medical Research, Anatomy Act. References 1 . Patnaik V.V.G.: Editorial J Anat Soc India.2002;50(2):143-144. 2 . Ajita R., Singh YI. Body donation and its relevance in anat¬omy learning- a review. JASI 2007;56(1):44-7. 3 . D.K.   Sharma.‘Body   Donation   Awareness’   -   The   only   Solution   for   the   Scarcity   of   Cadavers   in   Medical   Education   in   India.   Indian   Journal   of   Anatomy                 2014;3(3):149-55. 4 . Gillman J. Religious prospective on organ donation. Crit. Care Nur.1999;22(3):19-29. 5 . Bulware    LE.,    Ratner    LE.,    Cooper    LA.,    LaVeist    TA.,    Powe    NR.    Whole    body    donation    for    medical    sciences:    a    population    based    study    clin.Anat.                                                2004;17(7):570-7. 6 . Golchet G., Carr J., Harris MG. why can’t we have enough cornea donors.  Optometry.2000;71(5):318-28. 7 . Rechardson R., Humitz B. Donors attitude towards body donation for dissections. Lancet. 1995;346(8970):277-9.   8 . Pundge SJ. Wadker P., Gangane S. Borate S. Body Donation and effect of awareness campaign in Mumbai. Int J Cur Res Rev.2014:6(20):70-73. 9 . Bulware   LE.,   Ratner   LE.,   Sora   JA.,   Cooper   LA.,   LaVeist   TA.   &   Powe.   Determinant   of   willingness   to   donate   living   related   &   cadaveric   organ:      identifying           opportunities for  intervention transplantation. 2002;73(10):1683-91. 1 0 . Anatomy Act 1832. Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Anatomy _Act_1832. Accessed on 15 May 2011 1 1 . Bombay Act No. XI of 1949 (The Bombay Anatomy Act, 1949). Available at http://bombayhighcourt.nic.in/ libweb/acts/1949.11.pdf. 1 2 . Sheril US,.Soka E,. Sarikaya G. Attitude of Turkish anatomists towards cadaver donation. Clin.Anat.2004;17(8): 318-28.