A surgeon and four others were indicted yesterday in Changhua County for allegedly facilitating illegal organ transplants in China.
In a news release, the Changhua District Prosecutors’ Office said that Chen Yao-li (陳堯俐), a transplant specialist based in Changhua, orchestrated a criminal group that profited from sending 10 Taiwanese to China to undergo organ transplant surgery from 2016 to 2019.
According to the Human Organ Transplant Act (人體器官移植條例), organ transplants may only be provided or acquired free of charge, and “persons who broker organ transplants or the provision and acquisition of organs” may be subject to imprisonment of one to five years for each offense.
Photo: Taipei Times
Prosecutors said that the group led by Chen allegedly charged people NT$5 million to NT$7.5 million (US$153,917 to US$230,876) for liver transplants and NT$3 million to NT$3.5 million for kidney transplants that were conducted in China’s Shandong and Hunan provinces.
Chen made illegal gains totaling NT$14.82 million through facilitating organ transplants, prosecutors said.
Chen identified people in need of transplants during his medical duties, with the Changhua-based surgeon’s alleged accomplices — identified by their surnames, Huang (黃), Yang (楊), Lin (林) and Hung (洪) — handling communications and payments.
Chen also allegedly instructed a nurse, surnamed Hsieh (謝), to travel to China to administer post-surgery care for NT$200,000 per person, prosecutors said.
Chen personally assisted in conducting the surgeries in China’s Qingdao and Changsha, prosecutors said.
The prosecutors said that they began investigating Chen after a tip-off in March 2022.
They are seeking a six-year sentence for Chen and three-year sentences for Huang, Yang, Lin and Hung.
The prosecutors said they aim to confiscate the group’s illegal gains that allegedly amount to NT$20.37 million.
Hsieh faces a deferred prosecution but must return NT$1.1 million in illegal gains as part of the nurse’s settlement agreement.
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) today issued a sea warning for Typhoon Fung-wong effective from 5:30pm, while local governments canceled school and work for tomorrow. A land warning is expected to be issued tomorrow morning before it is expected to make landfall on Wednesday, the agency said. Taoyuan, and well as Yilan, Hualien and Penghu counties canceled work and school for tomorrow, as well as mountainous district of Taipei and New Taipei City. For updated information on closures, please visit the Directorate-General of Personnel Administration Web site. As of 5pm today, Fung-wong was about 490km south-southwest of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan's southernmost point.
A magnitude 5.3 earthquake struck Kaohsiung at 1pm today, the Central Weather Administration said. The epicenter was in Jiasian District (甲仙), 72.1km north-northeast of Kaohsiung City Hall, at a depth of 7.8km, agency data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effects of a temblor, was highest in Kaohsiung and Tainan, where it measured a 4 on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale. It also measured a 3 in parts of Chiayi City, as well as Pingtung, Yunlin and Hualien counties, data showed.
Nearly 5 million people have signed up to receive the government’s NT$10,000 (US$322) universal cash handout since registration opened on Wednesday last week, with deposits expected to begin tomorrow, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. After a staggered sign-up last week — based on the final digit of the applicant’s national ID or Alien Resident Certificate number — online registration is open to all eligible Taiwanese nationals, foreign permanent residents and spouses of Taiwanese nationals. Banks are expected to start issuing deposits from 6pm today, the ministry said. Those who completed registration by yesterday are expected to receive their NT$10,000 tomorrow, National Treasury
Taiwan next year plans to launch its first nationwide census on elderly people living independently to identify the estimated 700,000 seniors to strengthen community-based healthcare and long-term care services, the Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) said yesterday. Minister of Health and Welfare Shih Chung-liang (石崇良) said on the sidelines of a healthcare seminar that the nation’s rapidly aging population and declining birthrate have made the issue of elderly people living alone increasingly pressing. The survey, to be jointly conducted by the MOHW and the Ministry of the Interior, aims to establish baseline data and better allocate care resources, he
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