Organ-harvest scandal revealed by duped donor
By Wang Xiang |
May 7, 2010, Friday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
A HIGHLY organized national network of agents dealing in the sale of "live" human organs has been uncovered in Beijing, with hundreds of bizarrely willing young men kept in confined apartments each year waiting to have their kidneys or livers harvested.
A tip-off from Yang Nian, 19, a former organ seller, blew the lid on the long-established organization, Beijing Morning Post reported yesterday.
Yang, whose report led Beijing police to raid an "organ farm" in the capital, sold 60 percent of his liver for 35,000 yuan (US$5,127).
After the operation, the agency paid him only 25,000 yuan and beat him up when he asked for the rest of the money, Yang said.
He told police that agents recruited organ sellers from all over the country. Once recruited, potential donors were kept in cramped apartments while buyers were sought in big cities, he said.
They lived and ate in the apartments for free while awaiting organ harvesting, Yang said. Potential donors were told they could back out at any time.
Two computers were provided for donors to share.
Yang was the youngest of more than a dozen organ donors living in the same apartment.
He said all the donors were from impoverished families and volunteered to sell either their kidneys or parts of their livers to "get some quick money."
Every donor had to pass a strict disease-screening process before recruitment, Yang said.
Yang's liver was finally sold to a terminal cancer patient in Beijing for 150,000 yuan after he was kept in the apartment for several months.
The organization took care of hospital fees and all paperwork involved in the transplant process.
The organization also provided fake documentation for hospitals.
Many doctors had no idea that they were cutting organs out of illegal donors, the report said.
Four organ agents - Liu Qiangsheng, Yang Shihai, Liu Ping, and Liu Qiang - stood trial on April 17. The court has yet to hand down a verdict in the case.
Liu and Yang were also former organ donors.
Liu said he felt what they were doing was a good thing and that he was saving lives. His agency had recruited more than 190 donors in two years, the court was told. More than 30 of them went through surgery.
Organ transplants only began in China in the 1960s, but it is now a world leader in the field. More than 1.5 million patients are on waiting lists for organ transplants each year and such a huge demand has caused the illegal trade to flourish.
Chinese law does not have an outright ban on organ sales. The Beijing agency was charged with running an illegal business operation.
Legal loopholes attracts many foreign patients to China for cheap organ transplants.
Seventeen Japanese visitors received organ transplants in China in February last year, according to a former report that caused widespread public outrage.
A tip-off from Yang Nian, 19, a former organ seller, blew the lid on the long-established organization, Beijing Morning Post reported yesterday.
Yang, whose report led Beijing police to raid an "organ farm" in the capital, sold 60 percent of his liver for 35,000 yuan (US$5,127).
After the operation, the agency paid him only 25,000 yuan and beat him up when he asked for the rest of the money, Yang said.
He told police that agents recruited organ sellers from all over the country. Once recruited, potential donors were kept in cramped apartments while buyers were sought in big cities, he said.
They lived and ate in the apartments for free while awaiting organ harvesting, Yang said. Potential donors were told they could back out at any time.
Two computers were provided for donors to share.
Yang was the youngest of more than a dozen organ donors living in the same apartment.
He said all the donors were from impoverished families and volunteered to sell either their kidneys or parts of their livers to "get some quick money."
Every donor had to pass a strict disease-screening process before recruitment, Yang said.
Yang's liver was finally sold to a terminal cancer patient in Beijing for 150,000 yuan after he was kept in the apartment for several months.
The organization took care of hospital fees and all paperwork involved in the transplant process.
The organization also provided fake documentation for hospitals.
Many doctors had no idea that they were cutting organs out of illegal donors, the report said.
Four organ agents - Liu Qiangsheng, Yang Shihai, Liu Ping, and Liu Qiang - stood trial on April 17. The court has yet to hand down a verdict in the case.
Liu and Yang were also former organ donors.
Liu said he felt what they were doing was a good thing and that he was saving lives. His agency had recruited more than 190 donors in two years, the court was told. More than 30 of them went through surgery.
Organ transplants only began in China in the 1960s, but it is now a world leader in the field. More than 1.5 million patients are on waiting lists for organ transplants each year and such a huge demand has caused the illegal trade to flourish.
Chinese law does not have an outright ban on organ sales. The Beijing agency was charged with running an illegal business operation.
Legal loopholes attracts many foreign patients to China for cheap organ transplants.
Seventeen Japanese visitors received organ transplants in China in February last year, according to a former report that caused widespread public outrage.
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