93-Year-Old Kolkata Woman Becomes First Woman To Donate Body For COVID-19 Research

Woman donates body to COVID-19 research: A senior citizen from Kolkata donated her body for medical research regarding COVID-19 on May 20, becomes the first woman in the country to do so.

According to a PTI report, the 93-year-old trade union leader from Kolkata donated her body to an organisation, Gandarpan, that spearheaded a cadaver donation in Bengal.

Jyotsna Bose, the woman to take the initiative of contributing in this way to medical research, is reportedly the second person all over the country, after Brojo Roy, to have allowed a pathological autopsy conducted on their body at a state-run hospital, after succumbing to COVID-19.

Roy is the founder of the non-profit organisation.

Following the two Bengalis, ophthalmologist Dr Biswajit Chakraborty became the third person to have donated their remains for the same purpose.

Bose's granddaughter Dr Tista Basu reported that "her grandmother had pledged her body through Roy's organisation around 10 years ago". She was admitted to a COVID-19 special hospital in Belaghata on May 14. However, she lost the fight against the virus after two days of being admitted.

She said, "The pathological autopsy of my grandmother was conducted at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital on Tuesday. Hers is the first female body in the country donated for a pathological autopsy following death due to COVID-19."

She added, "We do not know much about coronavirus as it is a new disease. We need to understand its full effect on organs and organ systems. Pathological autopsies help us in this quest."

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Bose, who was born in 1927 in Chittagong, present-day Bangladesh, engaged in social and political activities in her life. She was involved in the trade union movement and participated in the posts and telegraph strike of 1946 in support of the Naval mutiny.

Her father went missing during World War II while returning from Burma following which her family faced a financial crisis. This led to her incomplete academics and she had to take up a job as an operator at British Telephones.