Section: Short title, extent and commencement.
This section is uniformly similar across all acts and contains the year of enactment and amendments thereof.
Section: Definitions
Approved institute
All the Anatomy Acts available to us include medical teaching institutes as approved institutes for the purpose of act. But acts of MH, OD, TN, GA, GJ, HP, HR, PB, CH, MP and MN also include standalone Hospitals (not attached to any medical teaching institute) as approved institutes [6,10,11, 14- 25]
Authorized officer
Authorized officer are the officers competent to act for the purpose of act especially in cases of handling of unclaimed body.
In all acts officers appointed or authorised to act under this Act shall be deemed to be public servants within section 21 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (Central Act 45 of 1860).
Unclaimed body
All available Anatomy Acts define unclaimed body – as body of deceased person who has no near relative. Claimants recognized by various Anatomy Acts of the body of deceased apart from near relatives are shown in table IV.
Table IV
Showing recognized claimants of unclaimed bodies besides near relative.
S. no
|
Recognized Claimants of unclaimed bodies
|
States
|
1
|
Person interested
|
KA
|
2
|
Relatives/public institutes of religion of deceased.
|
KL
|
3
|
Servants
|
UP
|
4
|
Personal friends
|
DL, MN
|
Acts of several states have included section for body donation but no act has defined a donor.
Section: Power of state government to authorise officer to act under section (Section: Procedure to handle unclaimed bodies):
In Assam, a notification of state government clarified that police officer having jurisdiction over the area is the authorized officer [17]. In Punjab government notification; the principals of the government medical colleges are the authorised officers for the purpose of the act. Whether such notification has been issued by other state governments is not known/available to us.
Section: Unclaimed dead bodies in hospitals, prisons and public place how to be dealt with:
All Anatomy Acts have clearly laid down procedure to handle the unclaimed bodies but the procedure differs from state to state.
The states namely HP, HR, PB, CH, SK and MP only mention the duty of authorized officer on intimation of unclaimed body that it is to be taken in possession with least practicable delay and handed over to approved institute, or be disposed of in the manner prescribed [21-23, 25, 26]. But there is no mention regarding suspicious death. States namely MH, DL, KA, KL, TN, UP, AS and MN also describe the procedure to be followed, if there is suspicion regarding the cause of death [6, 8, 9, 11, 17, 24, 27, 30]. It is then necessary to send the body for post mortem examination. Gujarat Anatomy Act, 2011 states that on suspicion regarding cause of death, inquest (police) is to be done subsequent to which the body may be handed over to the approved institute or sent for post mortem examination as per findings of inquest [20].
Section: Doubt or dispute as to near relative to be referred to Magistrate of the First Class -Uniformly similar across all acts.
Section: Donation of bodies or any part thereof deceased persons for anatomical examination etc.
Of the available acts, acts of eight states namely TN, GA, HP, HR, PB, CH, MP and AS do not have any provision for donation of body [11, 17,19,21,22,23, 25]. Acts of MH, KA, OD and MN clearly indicate the procedure to be followed in cases when the death of an interested donor occurs at home [6, 8, 10, 24].This includes provision of acceptance of death certificate stating the manner and cause of death as per his/her best knowledge by a registered medical practitioner who may or may not have attended the deceased person in last seven days. This registered medical practitioner however should not be concerned in dealing with body donation.
Section: Maintenance of records
Except for MH, DL and GJ no other state has included maintenance of record in their acts [6, 7, 20] .Maharashtra Anatomy Act clearly lays down the manner in which the records have to be maintained, specifies the entries and duties of concerned authorities in a time bound manner [6].
Section: Refusal to accept unclaimed / donated body
Different states have different clauses with regards to the refusal to accept a donated /unclaimed body by the approved institute as shown in table V.
Table V
Summaries the section of refusal to accept donated /unclaimed body
|
Name of state
|
Clause
|
1
|
MH, GA, HP, PB, SK, MP, AS
|
No provision for refusal of unclaimed /donated bodies.
|
2
|
KA, KL, TN, UP, MN
|
It is mentioned that authorised institute shall accept the unclaimed /donated body if required.
|
3
|
DL, OD, GJ
|
Clearly mention the right to refuse an unclaimed /donated body. If senior officer of authorised institute decides that the body is not suitable for educational purposes or the body is not required by the said institute.
|
Section: Disposal of dead body
None of the acts have included the clause for the disposal of the dead body after its use except for three states i.e. MH, OD and GJ [6, 10, 20] .While OD and GJ have mentioned the disposal in prescribed manner, Maharashtra act has dealt with this issue in detail prescribing the manner in which the said disposal should happen as per the religious persuasion of deceased [6, 10, 20]. The authorized institute is required to transfer the information of disposal to the executive magistrate or any other officers as approved by state government within a stipulated time.
Section: Penalty
All the available acts include a provision for punishment of person who obstructs any process laid down in the act. This punishment varies in different acts and ranges from penalty of 200 [21,22, 25] to 5000 [20,24] and even with provision of imprisonment up to 6 months [10].
Section pertaining to Duty of Police and other officers to assist in obtaining possession of unclaimed bodies; Protection of persons acting under this Act and officers to be public servants-were similar across all acts.
Section: Act not to prohibit post-mortem examination
Following states namely MH, DL, KA, OD, KL, GJ, SK, UP, AS and MN have a clause stating that nothing in Anatomy Acts prohibits post mortem examination if there is suspicion regarding cause of death [6-10,20,24, 26,27]
Section: Power to make rules: All acts provide power to state government to make rules/amendment.
Section: Transfer and transport of cadavers and anatomical material amongst the authorized institute.
While no act has a section addressing transfer and transport of cadavers amongst the approved institute. Government of KA, by gazette notification, has framed the rules and regulation regarding the same in 2005 [31]. Any such notification by any other state government could not be obtained.
The suggestions and views of sixty six respondents received in response to questionnaire addressing various sections of Anatomy Acts are as follows (Table VI)
Table VI
Overwhelming views and suggestions of the Anatomy fraternity of India regarding various sections/ provisions of Anatomy Acts of their respective states
S. no
|
Questions Regarding various sections of Anatomy Act of their respective states
|
Response
|
VIEWS/SUGGESTIONS OF STAKE HOLDERS
|
Yes
|
No
|
Nil
|
1.
|
Is approved institution clearly defined?
|
52
|
10
|
2
|
Although the definition of approved institute implies that it includes all government/private medical and dental institutes. Anatomist want approved institute to be clearly spelt out either in act or in notification.
|
2.
|
Is the definition of unclaimed bodies clearly spelt?
|
47
|
15
|
2
|
|
3.
|
Is procedure to handle unclaimed bodies clearly laid down?
|
42
|
20
|
2
|
Ways to be devised so that as bodies reach all approved institutes (all government/private medical, dental and allied) unbiased without performing postmortem in specific time frame.
Authorized officer should be aware of his responsibilities regarding the act.
|
4.
|
Have the responsibilities of authorized officer been clearly defined?
|
35
|
27
|
2
|
So that the unclaimed body reaches the approved institute before the putrefaction sets in.
|
5.
|
Is provision for receiving donated bodies present?
|
43
|
18
|
3
|
Overwhelming view to include this section in acts lacking it.
|
6.
|
Suggestion regarding management of situation, when donated bodies arrive at the approved institute without death certificate.
|
|
|
|
Should be received only along with police verification report (i.e No Objection certicate-N.O.C.), certificate from village sarpanch or denied in absence of above certificates.
|
7.
|
Is transfer or transport of cadaveric materials mentioned?
|
21
|
38
|
5
|
Should be legally approved.
|
8.
|
Does the Act mention the maintenance of records?
|
28
|
31
|
5
|
Documentation should be mandatory and clearly laid down for bodies or part thereof/bones/anatomic material/still birth fetus. There should be uniformity in the format of body donation forms, acknowledgement letter, maintenance of records of donations and unclaimed bodies etc.
|
9.
|
Is procedure of disposal of claims by the “said relatives” clearly laid down?
|
23
|
37
|
4
|
Should be clearly laid down
|
10.
|
Is a clause for penaltyfor thosewho interfere with any procedure of act present?
|
25
|
30
|
9
|
Should be increased from Rs. 5000/= to Rs. 25000/=
|
11.
|
Is uniformity in Anatomy Acts of various states is need of the day.
|
53
|
8
|
3
|
Socially and demographically states are different hence not possible.
Laws regarding handling of unclaimed body are stringent in certain states which if uniformly applicable will affect the availability of unclaimed body in all states.
Only guidelines to be issued by central government.
|
12.
|
Any other Suggestions
|
|
|
|
Officer who should receive the body in approved institute should be clearly defined.
Criteria for acceptance or refusal of unclaimed body should be clearly laid down.
National body bank registry for uniform distribution of cadavers.
Prior informed consent from donor and/or near relative in case of transfer and transport of cadaver.
|