CHINA:A top Chinese health official has admitted that China uses organs from executed prisoners for donation. He has also acknowledged for the first time the existence of a black market in human organs, for which he blamed inadequate supervision and rogue surgeons.
"Apart from a small portion of traffic victims, most of the organs from cadavers are from executed prisoners," deputy health minister Huang Jiefu told a medical conference in the southern city of Guangzhou.
Mr Huang insisted donation was voluntary and carried out with the consent of donors or their families.
China is introducing new laws that will ban payment for organs and outlaw transplant tourism from rich Japanese and Korean organ-seekers.
Chinese nationals will be given priority for transplants, and only under special circumstances will people from other countries get an organ.
China has carried out more organ transplants than any other country, with the exception of the US. Human rights groups have long said it makes widespread use of executed prisoners' organs and allege that hospitals have turned to lucrative organ sales and transplants to raise funds.
China suffers from a major shortage of human donors. Although some 1.5 million patients need transplants each year, only 10,000 operations can be carried out because of a shortage of donors.
This is partly due to traditional taboos. Many Chinese believe that a person's body is part of their parents' flesh and blood. Consequently, few are willing to donate their organs.
The cost of a kidney transplant on the black market runs to €55,000, and a liver up to €130,000. Some wealthier patients, including foreigners, can get transplants more easily because they can pay for the service, Mr Huang said.
Although Beijing does not say how many people are executed each year, analysts believe it to be about 8,000, making it the world's highest figure. Executions are carried out with a bullet to the back of the head or lethal injection. Families have complained that the bodies of their executed relatives are not handed over.
Mr Huang said the actions of some hospitals and doctors have contributed to the shortfall of organs.
Introducing a new Bill to monitor transplants, he said: "We aim to ensure that human organ transplantation in China is healthily, systematically and legally developed and protects the rights of donors of human organs and patients."
The provisional rules on organ transplants would ensure the quality and safety of medical practices, he said. Only qualified hospitals are allowed to carry out transplants - a measure that aims to close illegal clinics offering transplants to wealthy overseas patients. The government would also set up an information-sharing network on organ donation and distribution.
"It aims at, on the one hand, raising more public awareness to donate organs and, on the other hand, improving efficiency and fairness of organ distribution," Mr Huang said.
Health lobby groups such as the British Transplantation Society warmly welcomed plans to bring to an end the use of organs from executed prisoners for sale to tourists.