University Of Hawaii Medical School Resumes Accepting Donated Bodies
The program had been halted in July due to having too many bodies for too few surgical trainees.
The University of Hawaii’s John A. Burns Medical School is reopening its program that allows people to donate their bodies when they die for study.
Since July 11, the program had been closed because it had been receiving more donations than it could handle.
JABSOM referenced the coronavirus pandemic as a major factor for this. It said that fewer international surgeons were flying to Hawaii to train on donated bodies, and that space to store these bodies is limited to about 100 slots. When capacity was reached last summer, JABSOM decided to pause its acceptance of new donors.
JABSOM’s Willed Body Program was first conceived in 1968, according to a press release issued Tuesday.
“As each anatomical donation contributes directly to new understandings, each donor is greatly
valued and honored,” it says.
