Rajasthan: Parents donate 3-year-old girl’s body for research

JAIPUR: Three-year-old Jyoti passed away on Thursday, following a congenital heart disease (CHD) she had since birth. Her parents decided to donate her body to the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIMS), Jodhpur, making her probably the youngest donor in the state. The body would be used for anatomy and research purposes for medical aspirants.
A day after taking the boldest decision of their life, Umaid Singh and his wife Raju are very satisfied. Speaking to TOI, Singh said, “Everyone is interested in knowing about my little daughter. I have got thousands of calls this morning when people talked about her, enquired about her.”
“Since her birth, we were told that she is not going to survive for more than two years. She managed to live with good health for two years. However, she started crying for hours for past few months when we started taking her to doctors and heart specialists. I visited almost every government hospital in Rajasthan and even visited private hospitals in Ahmedabad (Gujarat), Palwal (Haryana) and Noida (Uttar Pradesh). But from everywhere nobody gave me the confidence that they can do something which may help the kid,” Singh said while recalling the problem the girl had since birth.
Umaid Singh works as assistant depot manager at Jodhpur depot of Rajasthan State Roadways Transport Corporation (RSRTC).
“Her birthday falls on May 16, but this year we didn’t celebrate it due to death of my grandfather that had taken place some months prior to this birthday. It is pity that the Central government and state government run various schemes, but none of the authorities check if the schemes actually identify and benefit deserving beneficiaries,” he added.
Asked about the decision of donating the body, Singh, said, “My wife and family lives in our native village Shiv near Gotan in Nagaur district. However, on June 3, my wife, younger daughter and Jyoti were with me at my house in Jodhpur. Her condition deteriorated on June 3 itself. After his death on Thursday, I was puzzled. That’s when I thought and sought an idea on how I can take any measure that may help us to keep her alive in our memories.”
“Wife ne poocha kya karenge, mainey kaha naye medical ke doctor research karenge, (My wife asked what would be done after the donation to which I told her that medical students will do research),” Singh said in choked voice.
Singh added that his daughter would help the medical students to differentiate between the anatomy of young person and of children. “It is a nice feeling that our Jyoti could help in research work after her death,” said Singh while sobbing.