Medical schools lack cadavers: professor

KONYA - Anatolia News Agency

Body donation is almost nonexistent in Turkey, Karabulut says. AA Photo

Cadavers, an essential element of medical training, are only present in 20 of the 64 medical faculties in Turkey, the head of the Anatomy Department of Selçuk University Medical School, Professor Ahmet Kağan Karabulut has said. The medical schools that possess cadavers average one cadaver per 70 to 80 students, he added.

In medical education, it is only possible for a medical student to touch the organ he or she is about to cure and feel its texture with a cadaver, he said. “This is not possible by a model or a poster or any other visual educational material. These students will become surgeons. Their treatment material is this. There is no other component that would replace the cadaver in medical education. In anatomy education, the cadaver is a priority.”

In the United Kingdom, the average is one cadaver per student, but the situation in Turkey is “pathetic,” Karabulut said. “Out of the 64 medical schools in Turkey, in 44 universities, education with cadavers is not possible. Here, we provide medical education to 160 students with two cadavers for three years. Body donation is almost nonexistent in Turkey, whereas it is more widespread abroad. One cadaver can be used for four to five years in medical education. We do not damage the configuration of the cadaver. After usage, we bury the cadaver as a whole, in accordance with religious principles and in cooperation with the municipality.”