Thiruvananthapuram Medical College has received as many as 64 unidentified dead bodies, including nine females, in the last four years and one-fourth of them were sold to private medical colleges for research purposes.
As per the data obtained by RTI Activist Raju Vazhakkala, 16 cadavers were sold to private medical and dental colleges in Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Thiruvananthapuram and Kanyakumari districts from January 1, 2017 to November 30, 2021.
The demand for cadavers has skyrocketed as the Medical Council of India (MCI) has stipulated that one cadaver is mandatory for every 10 MBBS students, forcing the authorities of the private medical colleges to go on a shopping spree for unclaimed dead bodies. Thiruvananthapuram Medical College charged private colleges Rs 40,000 for each cadaver. The government medical college earned a revenue of Rs 6.4 lakh in this manner from seven private colleges, of which, four were from Thiruvananthapuram while Kollam and Pathanamthitta accounted for one hospital each.
Revealing the shortage of cadavers that the private colleges are facing, a Kulasekharam-based private college (Tamil Nadu) also purchased four cadavers from Thiruvananthapuram Medical College.
The data obtained through RTI revealed that Thiruvananthapuram Medical College has Rs 9.4 lakh as a leftover from the sale of cadavers.
The cadavers are being sold in one to six months after receiving requests from the private colleges. The revenue thus earned is spent on the upkeep of the mortuary, buying instruments and chemicals and paying the salaries of the staff engaged in embalming the corpses. It's a three-member committee comprising the Director of Medical Education, Medical College Principal and Anatomy department head that oversees the sale of cadavers.