Medical colleges in Kota and Jhalawar are grappling with a severe shortage of cadavers, being forced to manage practical studies by grouping students together. 

 Government Medical College - Kota is conducting practical classes for its 250 students with 8 to 10 cadavers. Government Medical College - Jhalawar, on the other hand, has only six cadavers for its 200 students. This practice, however, runs contrary to the Medical Council of India -- now the National Medical Commission -- guidelines of one cadaver for 10 students.

 Cadavers are human bodies used by medical students, physicians and other scientists to study anatomy, identify disease sites and determine causes of death. 

Most state-run medical colleges in Rajasthan and across India rely on donations for cadavers. 

 Accepting the shortage of cadavers, Government Medical College - Jhalawar Dean Shiv Bhagwan Sharma said he wrote to the state government two months ago to request permission for claiming bodies from shelter homes. 

 Manoj Sharma, nodal officer of the body donation programme at Government Medical College - Jhalawar, said almost all colleges across the state, including private ones, were facing the cadaver shortage. 

 However, SMS Medical College -- the biggest hospital in the state -- in Jaipur and RNT Medical College in Udaipur are exceptions. Udaipur's location on the border with Gujarat enables it to acquire cadavers for students, he said. 

 Dean Sharma proposed coordinating with shelter homes to claim bodies of the destitute and abandoned people who die of natural causes, he said. However, the state government is yet to respond to the proposal.