Sambalpur: A Sambalpur family has donated bodies of five members and relatives to Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (Vimsar), Burla, over the past eight years, supporting medical education amid an acute shortage of cadavers.The latest donation followed the death of Saudamini Nanda (82), a retired teacher, social worker and women’s rights advocate, who died while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Bhubaneswar on Thursday morning. As per her final wish, her family donated her body to Vimsar on Friday, taking the family’s total donations to five since 2018.The earlier donors from the family include Jagamohan Mishra (2018), Bhagabat Prasad Nanda, a Sarvodaya activist and Saudamini’s husband (2020), Shakuntala Sadangi, her elder sister (2023), and Saisharan, her 19-year-old grandson (2024).The donation comes as Vimsar’s department of anatomy faces a severe cadaver shortage. Department records show the institute has received around 40 donated bodies in the past 12 years, despite rising demand for anatomy training.
