WASHINGTON ? Cuba's government has offered its first free penis implants, part of a program set to be expanded across the communist island, an official newspaper reported Friday.

It is likely not what Karl Marx had in mind when he imagined a society transformed "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs," but Juventud Rebelde reported the silicon and silver penis implants are set to become more common.

Men in seven Cuban provinces will be eligible for the procedure, which urologist Juan Carlos Yip boasted was normally "exclusive to first world countries and at a high cost.

"It will be carried out in patients whose sexual suffering does not respond positively to traditional treatments."

Those over 40s and those with diabetes or circulation problems are set to be first in line the paper reported.