First Day

Tan Ah Kow waited a long time
before getting into Medical School

The first people that welcomed us into medical school @ State General, Monkey Republic, were the cadavers. And no, I am not referring to the lecturers in medical school. At least during our time, the first class in medical school was always on the anatomy of the upper limb. We were told to buy some instruments and scalpel blades, and for most of us, we were sure that they were not for some hearty meal organised for the new students.

I suppose we were rather apprehensive about seeing dead bodies (emphasis on bodies) for the first time. (You must remember that at that time, C.S.I., whether it was in Las Vegas, New York or Miami was just a concept in the subconscious mind of a dreamy and probably poor writer in America.) Well, it was a longish hall filled with about forty blue body bags. In them were mainly old men and a few old women. This does not represent the ratio of male and females in medical school at that time, of course.

What I remembered was that these dead bodies had name tags tied to their feet, with their names, i/c numbers and last addresses written on it. The addresses were probably those belonging to old folks homes. This was done so that if one day, some family members suddenly remembered they have this relative lying in the old folks' home (and probably need their help to remember some bank account number or safe's combination lock code), they can come and claim the body. Or should I say body parts.

Relatives: Can I see Mr Tan Ah Ba? I/C 1234567A?
Anatomy Dept: Which part do you want to see?
Relatives: Can I claim the body?
Anatomy Dept: Sure. Here's the left upper limb. We're sorry it's not connected to the body. Oh, you may notice that some of the bones in the hand are missing, but the students are having this test next week and they need the specimen so that they can recognise this groove on this particular bone. (of course, MCQ tests are stories for another day)