Cash-starved Czechoslovaks are tapping their veins to earn money.
Dozens of Czechoslovaks from southern Bohemia have been traveling to Linz, Austria, about 25 miles from the border, where according to a Prague weekly, private hospitals, clinics and blood banks will buy a unit of blood for up to about $16 - worth about three days of wages in Czechoslovakia."Czech blood is clean blood," said the weekly newspaper "Zdravotnicke Noviny" in an article on the phenomenon.
The newspaper said Austrian blood banks prize Czechoslovak blood for the low percentage of AIDS cases.
Payment for blood donations violates an international code of blood ethics signed by many countries but not Czechoslovakia.
For cash-starved Czechoslovaks wishing to spend a day crossing the border in Austria, the amount they receive for their blood can pay for a good schnitzel and several mugs of beer.