The illegal organ trafficking trade is flourishing in Ukraine as the country’s medical infrastructure and legislation make vital transplant organs hard to come by. Authorities are trying to bring the trade under control, but Ukraine’s legislation provides them little room to manoeuvre. In many countries such as Russia, doctors are permitted to use the organs of the deceased as long as the person has not written a statement prohibiting it. In Ukraine, a dead person’s organs can only be used with the permission of the relatives. This has resulted in a booming black market in organs.

The father of a woman named Elena died last year. A few months later, police called her. She told the Russian television network RT:

“The police told me that my father’s eyes were removed from his body to be sold as if they were from a donor. We didn’t notice anything at the funeral, as those who did it disguised their actions. I was told that the morgue’s employees did that, not the doctors. And that a total of 190 dead had had their organs removed.”

Some Ukrainian doctors are lobbying for a state tissue bank. They say this will stop illegal surgeries for good. ~ RT, Oct 25