He built a summer kitchen and dug out a cellar. Thanks to precise laser surgery, the operation scar running across Nicolae's waist and back is almost invisible, and he boasts how he and three of his neighbors recently handled a truckload of several tons of grapes. Village doctor Simion Mitu disapproves. In five or seven years they will really suffer, lacking one kidney, but Moldovan hospitals will not be able to help them. Official police data show that 36 Moldovan citizens have donated organs illegally abroad.
Medical experts say the actual figure is much higher.
Mitu said he knew of at least 17 villagers in Minjir, which has about 7,000 inhabitants, who had sold kidneys abroad. The operation went all right. This was my own decision, no one forced me. Maria's daughter remembers the day her mother brought her nice dresses and candy from Turkey, and it is an open secret how these treasures were acquired. Maria said many villagers had asked her for help in selling their kidneys in Turkey.