65 pct of China's Organ Transplants Come From Executed Prisoners

The Chinese Vice Minister of Health, Huang Jiefu, announced that about 65 percent of the organs transplanted in Chinese hospitals come from convicts put to death for various crimes. China does not release any figures on the number of executions, but Amnesty International estimates that over 1,700 prisoners were executed in 2008, making China the world leader as far as the implementation of the death penalty is concerned.

Dr. Wenyi Wang is from the Washington-based rights group Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting, who graduated from a Chinese medical school and saw the way organs are removed from the executed prisoners, explains:

“The surgeon who is the chief of the residence goes to the executive prisoner's site where they execute the people by gunshot. Then they immediately transfer the prisoners into the room and extract the organs.”

Prisoners denied of basic rights

Some Chinese officials however claim that the people condemned to die give written consent that they are willing to allow their organs to be donated. Dr. Francis Delmonico, Advisory for Human Transplantation, of World Health Organization argues:

“Not for a moment do I believe that this person is voluntarily giving. Here is a human reality that executions are now being fuelled by the need for human organs.”

The Chinese traditionally believe that their body should be complete when they die so that it can be reincarnated for their next life without any physical disabilities. This makes organ donation among ordinary Chinese very much a taboo subject, even today. So, China still relies heavily on organs taken from executed prisoners. Critics say that a lot of young people are being sentenced to death for what people in the West would regard as relatively minor offenses, just to keep the supply of organs moving. Dr. Wenyi Wang explains:

“The person I first met in dealing with executed prisoners, when I was an intern in surgery, was very young, 18 years old and healthy. Basically his crime was that he had raped a woman who happened to be the daughter of the governor of our hometown. So they gave a phone call to the public security bureau and in three days, he was given the death sentence without any trial. In China the executed prisoners are considered to be an enemy of the country and have no rights. The government can do whatever it wants.”

Health hazards

There are a lot of health hazards associated with taking organs from executed prisoners. Dr. Francis Delmonico explains:

“The person that’s being executed could have tuberculosis, hepatitis or other transmissible diseases that go by their being in the environment of the prison. One of the hazards of obtaining an organ from someone that’s being executed is to not know what transmissible disease might come along with the organ.”

But with the government's new scheme for the donation of organs, experts believe the situation will improve and that it will become more difficult for foreigners to come to China from rich countries in order to get a transplant. They also argue that international action should be taken to put an end to the illegal practice of transplant tourism.

Author:Debarati Mukherjee
Editor:Grahame Lucas