On his 42nd birthday on Wdnesday, Mariani MLA Rupjyoti Kurmi of the Congress pledged his body for the furtherance of medical education.
He also donated his eyes to the Jeuti Eye Bank, housed at the Chandraprabha Eye Hospital in eastern Assam’s Jorhat, to be used for corneal transplant in a blind person.
Kurmi signed the legal papers at the Jorhat Press Club.
The MLA signed papers authorizing Ekalavya Foundation, a socio-welfare organization involved in creating awareness on cadaver donation, and facilitating the body of a pledged person to a medical institute after death of the person.
Kurmi, who was accompanied by his wife, said that he has been always involved in social work since his childhood along with his mother Late Rupam Kurmi.
Rupam Kurmi later became a minister, and served the people till her death.
“I thought of donating my body and my eyes as that will be a contribution to the medical studies when I will not be alive. Cutting a cake on the occasion he said that a birthday was a time to celebrate and that this time the celebrations has centred round the announcement of pledging his body.
“Hope my decision will inspire others” Kurmi observed.
He also gave cheques of Rs 10000 each from his salary to representatives of the Ekalavya Foundation and Jeuti Eye Bank.
Kurmi further said that he would soon be meeting chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal to press for providing an air ambulance from Jorhat, which could be of use to the people of the district.
Devabrata Sharma, convenor of the Ekalabya Foundation, said that the organization has so far received pledges for body donation from 55 people and three among them had died and their bodies were handed over to medical college to be used for education purpose.
Sharma, who is also the principal of the Jorhat College (Amalgamated), and a research scholar in Assamese lexicon, along with his wife Santana Sharma, principal of Jorhat Jatitya Vidyalaya, and his brother Bishnurat Sharma, editor of an Assamese magazine, have also pledged their bodies.