Posted on 07/22/2005 7:28:00 AM PDT by Cowman
Peruvian state Web site posts ad seeking cadaver Thu Jul 21, 7:01 PM ET
LIMA, Peru (Reuters) - Wanted by Friday: Female corpse, price $640.
A Peruvian state university has posted an advertisement on a government Web site offering 2,070 soles (363 pounds) for a corpse for its medical students to practice on, despite the fact that buying and selling cadavers is illegal.
The macabre want ad was posted on the site of the Center for the Promotion of Small and Micro Businesses (www.prompyme.gob.pe), where state institutions are required to publish tenders for supplies to ensure transparency.
The National University of Cajamarca, in northern Peru, gave bidders until July 22 to submit offers. It was also seeking chalk, white boards and anatomical models.
"We have told the university they have to cancel this request ... it's negligence," said Laura Gutierrez, an official at the state contracts agency, Consucode.
The university said administrative staff had the day off and no one was immediately available for comment. Gutierrez said Consucode could suspend whoever was responsible.
A spokeswoman for the center said she believed it was the first time a request had been posted on its site for a corpse. "So far there haven't been any responses," she said.
The center is not involved in the bid process.
A Health Ministry spokesman said the sale of corpses was illegal, though medical students were allowed to practice on unclaimed corpses from the morgue.
Paolo Allanca, a doctor, said he remembered he and four others paid 50 soles each for an arm or a thorax at a state university in Lima. "My friend bought a whole corpse for 300 soles between five students, with the head on and everything," he added.
How many cadavers read the news? (All WaPo subscribers) Please, no Helen Thomas pix...........
All this palaver over a cadaver...
I think her name should be (ahem) Stifiny.
If it were a male, it would be called Abner...
Mr Dead?
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