Transitions Online, a magazine covering the post-communist states, reports on the underground trade in human bones for medical students in Macedonia.

From Transition Online:

Like a character in a crime movie, Olga walked through the dark alleys of the city’s Taftalidje district late one February night. Waiting in the shadows was a person whose name she didn’t know. Olga had made a deal with him on the phone a few days before to buy a human skull.

“I don’t know this person. I don’t know what he looks like or how he will provide the skull,” said Olga, whose name was changed to protect her identity. “It was his idea to meet here in these alleys, and he insisted that it must be in the evening. I’m so afraid.”

Trade in human bones is illegal in Macedonia, so medical students like Olga turn to the black market to acquire skulls and other bones for hands-on home study of human anatomy. Students at the Medical Faculty of Sts. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje aren’t allowed to take the medical school’s bones home.

The risk of being caught buying bones is negligible, students say, compared with the possibility of failing the difficult anatomy exam that is required to receive a medical degree.

Students find bone dealers through friends at school. Most of the bones come from undertakers who steal them for sale.

See more data and information at our Human Tissue and Bones Market.