In a bid to encourage medical research, parents of a two-year-old girl who died of a rare disease, have set an example by donating her body to a medical college, an official said on 9th January.

This is possibly the first time that body of such a young child has been donated for research in Madhya Pradesh, he claimed. The girl, who suffered from Sandhoff disease, died at her home on January 8, the official said. Sandhoff disease is a lipid storage disorder characterised by a progressive deterioration of the central nervous system. Many organs, including the deceased child's brain, had stopped functioning because of the disease, he added.

While the toddler's body was handed over to a private medical college for research, her eyes were donated to an eye bank, the official said. The child's father, a businessman, said, "We donated our daughter's organs hoping that it will help in the study and research required to save lives of other children like her." He said his daughter had been suffering from the disease since birth, because of which she developed deformities.