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India’s first bone bank has no bones due to Hindu rituals


The broken bone bank is at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The bone bank set up in 1999 has only received six dead bodies in the past seven years.

Mumbai Mirror writes:
Malhotra blamed the dearth of donors on Hindu ritual of immersing ashes of dead into Ganges. "Even in cases where people have pledged their bones to hospital after death, families of the deceased do not agree to it," Malhotra said.

It is a known fact that Hindus burn the dead body and immerse ashes in holy rivers. So the people behind bone bank in India should have already known its fate.

Things are slowly and many Hindus are now donating their body to various medical colleges in the country.



Asthi or bones after cremation is collected and placed in a clay pot. It is properly covered and then later immersed in a holy river.

The belief among Hindus is that a person attains moksha by immersing the ashes and remains of bones in water.

This is the reason why Hindus do not generally donate their bodies.