Organ trafficking stirs concern

• Source: Global Times
• [01:55 August 24 2009]
• Comments

A sina.com blogger, identifying himself as Li Zhe and an organ-transplant dealer, regularly lists contact information to get matching data for kidney transplants.

“If there are available matching organs for patients, trading can start immediately. I'll take care of all the procedures, while the receivers will bear the cost,” Li said.

“A single case costs as much as 200,000 yuan for a patient who needs a kidney transplant,” Li told the Global Times by telephone, adding that the medical checkups for potential donors run at around 10,000 yuan. But he refused to say how much he could make out of such a deal.

It takes at least a month for the donor to go through necessary medical procedures at hospitals, and another two weeks for the operation and recovery of the receiver, Li said.

Dealers also have to fake the identities of patients to show that donors and receivers are related. Apart from bribing relative departments to obtain all essential documentation, money has to be paid to physicians who will carry out the operation, Li said.

“30,000 yuan is an average sum for doctors in Beijing,” he said.

Authorities have stepped up their crackdown on illegal organ-transplant dealings this year, following reports that 17 Japanese tourists spent about 595,000 yuan each for liver or kidney transplants at hospitals in the southern city of Guangzhou, Li said.

“The number of hospitals that are accessible for us dropped sharply this year. But the number of patients who need organs and want to buy from us remains, expanding the time needed to process each case,” Li said. “The business is even more risky and difficult. You can only count on luck. A fruitless year for me is not rare at all. Four to five cases per year could be really good.

“There are four to five thousand people who are willing to trade their organs in the country, according to our estimate. Meanwhile, three to four thousand organ dealers like me are mainly scattered in Henan, Beijing and Northeast regions.”