Universities and medical colleges in the Kingdom are in need of more than 100 human cadavers annually for their students to train and apply what they have learned.
“The demand for cadavers for the purpose of anatomical studies and surgical training is rising in the Kingdom, as new medical colleges are being opened with more students wanting to study medicine and surgery,” a local daily reported, quoting a source in the Kingdom’s laboratory supplies market on Saturday.
It is not only government universities that require the bodies, but also private medical colleges that need corpses in their laboratories, according to an official from an establishment that supplies human bodies for surgical studies.
“King Saud University places orders for the highest number of imported bodies,” Ahmed Atef of the Science Symbols Est. said.
He said that while cadaver-exporting markets for the purpose of medical studies are numerous around the world, the Kingdom imports them mostly from the United States.
He added that some medical laboratories in the Kingdom’s universities place orders for certain organs only and not the entire body.
He said the import of human cadavers involves many official formalities and that paperwork must be approved before its supply to a client.
Bodies are supplied with the help of specialized agencies abroad. They are processed and preserved in formalin before being packed in special containers and transported by air within 48 hours to the university.
The price of a single cadaver ranges between SR250 and SR400.
Universities normally place orders for two to four bodies depending on the number of students in its medical colleges.
However, there are some universities that use synthetic cadavers, which have all the sophisticated organs of a real human body designed for surgical studies. The synthetic cadavers closely resemble the human anatomy prior to the ravages of illness or decomposition, which human cadavers inevitably fall prey to.
He added that bodies must be disposed of in accordance with the law after use. Its final burial is undertaken at a graveyard set apart for non-Muslims in the presence of officials of the Ministry of Interior and under the supervision of the region’s municipality.
Universities need 100 cadavers annually
