A very deep feeling of love can make someone act with sincerity even if it means to sacrifice possessions, or even himself. This is what happened to the late Dr. Ir. Fitri Mardjono, M.Sc., professor of UGM Civil and Environmental Engineering Department Faculty of Engineering who died on Saturday (16/7) morning at around 2:00. The lecturer who died of illness has contributed both corneas and body (cadaver) to the UGM Faculty of Medicine to be utilized by people who need a cornea transplant or as educational material, particularly for the doctors.
According to dr. Muhammad Mansyur Romi, S.U, PA (K), Vice Dean for Administration, Finance and Resources of Faculty of Medicine, who is also an anatomist, what Dr. Fitri Mardjono had done is very rare, in fact it is difficult to find in Indonesia. “There are indeed already so many of cornea donors, but it is a different case to people who contribute their cadaver," said Mansyur after the release of the bodies in the Radioputro Building, Saturday (16/7).
Mansyur appraises that what is conducted by Dr. Fitri Mardjono is still rare in Indonesia, but it happens often abroad, like in Japan or the U.S. "Indeed it can be used as a kind of role model to others who want to provide benefits to others," said Mansyur who was accompanied by the Vice Dean for Student Affairs, Alumni, Business, and Welfare, Prof. dr. Suhardjo, S.U., Sp.M (K).
Meanwhile, the wife of the late Dr. Fitri Mardjono, Dra. Pangesti Wiedarti, M.Appl.Ling., Ph.D., said the willingness to donate corneas and cadaver hasd been expressed three years ago. In his lifetime, the late Dr. Fitri Mardjono was known for social and humanity, proven by the fact that for nearly 12 years he was a blood donor at PMI (Indonesian Red Cross). "Indeed, he purely wanted to help others as well as the development of education and science, particularly in the health sector," said Pangesti.
What he had done, according to Pangesti, could as well inspire the people of Indonesia to be more devoted on two things, namely intelligence and health. Both are mutually interrelated and supportive. In addition, the family also hopes the communities to have more trust in the various treatments conducted by Indonesian doctors thus there is no need to look for medical treatment abroad. "This hasn’t become a custom. There are still many people looking for treatment abroad, such as for cornea or kidney transplants," said Pangesti who also a lecturer of the UNY (Yogyakarta State University) Department of Language and Literature Education.
Dr. Ir. Fitri Mardjono, M.Sc. was born in Boyolali, 9 April 1959. He is survived by his wife and a daughter, Sachiko Mawaddah Lestari, who works in the Department of Transportation. His education history is: S-1 in the UGM Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, S-2 in the Engineering Department, Nagaoka University of Technology, Japan, S-3 degree obtained from the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning Eindhoven of Technology, Netherlands.
It appears that this case is not the first case in Indonesia. Brawijaya University (UB) Faculty of Medicine has Budi Setiawan’s (75) cadaver who donated his entire body in 2003.
Cadaver donation is common abroad. In the history of science, the German physicist Albert Einstein, inventor of the theory of relativity 100 years ago also donated his body to science. That said Einstein’s brain is the most widely studied because of his genius trait.