Fueling allegations that China profits from its frequent use of the death penalty, a Hong Kong newspaper reported yesterday that a Chinese hospital is selling livers transplanted from executed prisoners.
Sun Yat-sen University of Medical Sciences No. 1 Hospital in Guangzhou is charging around US$38,000 per transplant, the South China Morning Post said. It said more than 40 patients from China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand have received transplants.
A reporter posing as a relative of a patient says she was told January was a good time for organs as many prisoners were executed in the run-up to the Chinese Lunar New Year in February.
"Most organs are from prisoners. Prisoners are good because they are young. We have a good network. Most of the livers will be sent to us," said the doctor, who wasn't identified by name. "Our experience tells us that there are many organs before the Lunar New Year and other big days. If you miss this chance, you may have to wait until Labor Day (May 1)."
Beijing has consistently denied selling organs, and says they are transplanted from executed prisoners only if they or their families consent.
The mainland has no national law governing organ donations although a Ministry of Health directive bars the buying and selling of human tissue, according to the 1999 US State Department report on human rights.
An official at the hospital involved later dismissed the claims as "nonsense."
About 80 percent of the transplant fee pays for drugs to prevent the immune system from rejecting the new organ, the Post said.
Dr Lo Chung-man of the liver-transplant team at the University of Hong Kong said his team would never recommend a transplant in China.
"We do not accept their practice. We have doubts about the sources of the organs," he told the newspaper.
The report said at least five Hong Kong patients received transplants at the hospital in Guangzhou, and two have since died.
Leung Wing-kan of Hong Kong said he received a liver at the hospital last year.
"I never asked them where the organ came from. There is no need for me to know," he said. "I had no choice."
The Post commented that the fresh revelations would add impetus to the human rights lobby opposed to the US granting Normal Trade Relations to Beijing.
"It is shocking to hear this is still going on and it is a subject that several members have been concerned about in the past," a source on the House of Representatives' Republican-led International Relations Committee told the Post.
"This time it is emerging just ahead of a crucial time for China on Capitol Hill and we can expect a new drive on human rights in the month ahead. It could be a very volatile situation."
The committee held hearings more than 18 months ago on the transplant of human organs, which included a stinging undercover report by human rights activist Harry Wu, but the committee stopped short of issuing a formal resolution.
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