Donate an organ

In the UK recently there has been a bit of a scandal about a doctor removing and storing organs from the dead bodies of children upon whom he was carrying out post mortems. This doctor has now been banned from carrying out his profession. Other hospitals are also now stating that to help medical research sometimes organs are removed from dead bodies after post mortems. The authorities are now getting concerned that many people will have been put off from giving permission for their or their families organs to be donated after death. I also understand that people from South Asia including Sikhs are less likely to carry a donor card (a card giving permission for organs to be used to save or help others after death) than other groups. There also seems to be a general feeling among the Sikh community against the practice of carrying out of post mortems. 

Life is given by God and God also takes life away. After death the body is just a corpse and we perform a funeral to say good bye to the departed soul and basically dispose of the body. The body is of no use or value to the departed soul or the families. So is there any reason for Sikhs to prevent doctors from carrying out post mortems or even removing any organs from the dead body if they can help others or help medical research? 

Carrying a donor card could also be seen as a sort of Seva - helping others to live after your death. 

So do consider carrying a donor card and talk to your family to explain why you are carrying one. It is a sensitive topic, but could help someone to live.

Bhupinder Singh