Somnath Chatterjee's Body Donated To Hospital, Skin Used For Graft

Former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee's body will be used for educational purposes by medical students at a hospital, a senior doctor informed today. He said every part of the leader's body will be used for education and research. Mr Chatterjee's daughter Anushila Bose said that she was told that part of her father's skin was grafted today on a burn case patient.

"I heard part of father's skin has been grafted on a burn case patient today. Nothing can be more fulfilling. This is what my father had always wished in his life," she said.

Mr Chatterjee died on Monday due to multiple organ failure. His body was handed over to Kolkata's SSKM Hospital's anatomy department by his family.  

Chief of the anatomy department at the hospital, Dr Asis Ghoshal, said the body was embalmed to protect it from decomposition and the skin was retrieved by a surgeon. He said, "The body has been embalmed to protect it from decomposition. Before that, a surgeon from the plastic surgery department retrieved Chatterjee's skin, which could benefit not just medical students, but also patients with burn injuries".

The corneas of his eyes were donated to the Priyamvada Birla Aravind Hospital, he added.

He further said that every part of his body would be used for education and research programmes. His bones and organs would be preserved.

Much like his mentor and former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, Mr Chatterjee had pledged to donate his body in early 2000 at the age of 73.

Somnath Chatterjee, the former Lok Sabha Speaker and expelled member of the CPM, died just after 8 am on Monday at a hospital in Kolkata. He had been in and out of hospital since June-end after suffering a stroke. Mr Chatterjee had celebrated his 89th birthday on July 29.

Lok Sabha Speaker from 2004 to 2009, Mr Chatterjee was a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) for 40 years since 1968, represented the party 10 times in parliament.

With inputs from PTI