Sources of cadaver used for dissection at the Ibadan medical school, Nigeria - Analysis of a three-year data

Abstract

Our experience with cadaver collection at the Department of Anatomy, University of Ibadan, Nigeria between 9th of February 1998 and 11th of October 2001 is presented. A total of twenty-eight bodies were collected from the State Hospital, Ring Road during this period viz: twenty-six were males (92.9%) and two females (7.1%). Twenty-two (78.6%) were suspected bandits who died during gun duel with law enforcement agents while six (21.4%) were bodies that were accident victims and unclaimed bodies. Four of the unclaimed bodies were males (66.7%) while females were two (33.3%). The majority of bodies that were those of suspected bandits were males and they were twenty-two
(100%) while no female (0%) was recorded. No record of voluntary donation of cadavers for anatomy dissection was documented. Adequate documentation is advocated for the giving hospital and the receiving medical school. It is suggested that anatomists embark
on a more aggressive enlightenment campaign to the society to encourage those that might be willing to voluntarily will their body after dying to further the quest of knowledge to do so.