SSKM doctors prepare to receive body today

As per his wish, a team of doctors and staff of the Anatomy department of the state-run SSKM hospital are making  preparations to receive the body of the Marxist leader on Tuesday.

“Basu’s body will be handed over to the SSKM authorities for extensive use in medical study and research by students and research fellows,” CPM Politburo member Biman Bose told Deccan Herald here on Monday. He, however, declined to give further details.
Health minister Suryakanta Mishra held discussions with doctors and officials of the Anatomy department and the Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research (IPGMER) about the preparations made by them.

Basu had also pledged his eyes, which were removed after his death on Sunday by doctors of Sushrut Eye Foundation at Salt Lake.

“Basu’s corneas have been kept for the Muktakeshi Eye Foundation,” CPM sources said here.

Leading CPM luminaries like former land revenue minister Benoy Krishna Chowdhury and former state CPM secretary Anil Biswas had also donated their bodies after death.
But many a Communist including the famed ones abroad, had shied away from donating their bodies. For instance, E M S Namboodriripad and Harkishan Surjeet Singh were cremated.

The body of Karl Marx, the founder of the Marxism, was buried while Vladimir Lenin’s body has been kept embalmed at the Lenin Mausoleum for posterity; yet, the same has not been donated for research.

Joseph Stalin’s body was kept next to Lenin’s for a while and was later buried near other minor leaders of Revolution near the Lenin Mausoleum.

Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping’s organs were donated, remains cremated and ashes scattered over the seas.  Chou en Lai’s body too was cremated and ashes scattered by air over hills according to his wishes.