Knowledge, attitude and practice of body donation in central India

Abstract

Body donation is one of the sources of cadaver supply to medical colleges. The shortage of cadavers in medical institutes is the main problem of learning anatomy across India. The current research aimed to assess the knowledge and attitude of the general public regarding body donation.A cross-sectional study had conducted on 1500 voluntary people visiting or working in SSMC, Rewa (M.P.). A well-structured paper-based questionnaire had prepared for the collection of data. Descriptive data had expressed as frequency counts (percentage). Chi-square test had done to analyze differences in the awareness and willingness for body donation between the male and female groups. The difference between the two groups had considered significant if p < 0.05.35.07% of all the participants were unaware of body donation. Females were more unaware and uninterested in body donation. Among aware participants, 12.53% showed their willingness for body donation. The majority of them were motivated by medical professionals and the media. 87.47% were reluctant to donate their bodies because of various reasons like religious barriers, psychological anxiety, etc. We concluded that the majority of our study participants were unaware of body donation. Lack of awareness and social stigma are the main causes of deficiency of cadavers in medical institutes. To create awareness among the general public regarding body donation is the need of the hour. Maintaining an ample supply of cadavers to the undertraining medical students is of utmost importance for turning them into skillful doctors in the future.