Medical Tourism is becoming a rather lucrative business as unhealthy travelers flock to Mexico to get cataract surgery, Poland for cheap dentistry, or a host of other countries around the globe to patch up or otherwise repair their failing bodies. In fact, yesterday kicked off a four-day, International Medical Travel Conference in Singapore addressing this very issue.
While most of Medical Tourism is legal, there is a secondary market which dabbles in organ transplants that is not so legal. You’ve no doubt heard the horror travel stories of hitchhikers waking up with a headache and a missing organ somewhere in Central America. Well, sometimes those organs aren’t always stolen; sometimes they are donated by unfortunate souls who are down on their luck and need some hard cash simply to survive. It’s a very screwed-up world when your only bankable assets have to be withdrawn by a scalpel.
One such place where this is a common occurrence is Russia. According to an article by Kevin O’Flynn in the Moscow Times, body parts are often advertised in the classifieds (sometimes even in English) by anonymous donors. Kidneys seem to be the organ of choice–a natural option since we were born with two of them and, coincidentally, they bring a hefty price on the black market.
So, if you’re looking for a kidney on the cheap and completely lack a set of morals, pop on over to Moscow and shop around. If I awake there one morning with strange stitches and a throbbing headache, however, I’m coming after you.