KEY POINTS:
Because more people than ever want to donate their bodies to science, Otago University's medical school has had to introduce a quota system to manage numbers.
Letters have been sent out to registered donors, explaining that the number of cadavers accepted each year has to be limited.
The bequests co-ordinator at the university's School of Medical Sciences, Kathryn McClea, said the university had to restrict the number of bodies it took, as it could store only 80 at a time.
The university was now close to filling its quota for the year, and had 1800 people on its books.
"We've realised that this is going to be an ongoing situation," said Ms McClea.
The university has told would-be donors it has introduced an annual quota, and when that number is reached cannot accept any more bodies that year.
Funeral directors would be told when the quota was filled.
Details of those wanting to donate would remain on the database, and quotas would re-open on January 1 each year.
Ms McClea said the matter was sensitive and was difficult to manage as there was no way of predicting how many bequestees would die in any year.
Because the university took care of transport and cremation of body parts, Ms McClea urged those who had registered with the university to ensure they had made alternative funeral arrangements in case their bodies could not be accepted.
The university's bequest programme has been increasing in popularity since 2000, and an average of 200 people a year register for it.
Ms McClea attributed this to people being increasingly aware that donating their bodies was an option.
It was a subject talked about more openly now than in the past.
Auckland University's bequests co-ordinator, Valerie McMurtry, said its medical school had not implemented a quota system, but judged whether it could accept bodies on a case-by-case basis.
The number of bodies it accepted fluctuated considerably for a number of reasons, including cause of death, time elapsed from death, distance and transportation time involved, and family reluctance to go through with the bequest.
However, she said she had "filing cabinets full of registrations".
New Zealand goes against an international trend in which the training of some medical students is being jeopardised by a shortage of bodies to work with before they graduate.
- NZPA
