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China's death row kidneys get UK buyers
British patients are receiving transplant organs 'donated' by executed prisoners, it emerged on Sunday. Up to 10 people are thought to have travelled to China from the UK for replacement kidneys this year.
One of them is understood to be recuperating after he had a transplant procedure in a hospital in Guangzhou, in the south of the country.
'Transplant tourism' is growing because donor organs are in short supply in the UK. But British surgeons fear patients do not fully understand the suffering behind the murky trade in human organs.
There are strong suspicions that death row prisoners in China have their organs removed - with or without their permission - before being shot, to ensure they are in prime condition.
On Sunday, medical sources in China said January was likely to be a 'bumper month' for organs as it is the usual practice to execute prisoners en masse in the run-up to the Chinese New Year on January 29.
The kidney operations are being offered by an Internet company - transplantsinternational.com - which charges ?23,000 for the procedure. The price includes a month-long stay in hospital with a friend or relative.
The company makes clear the organs are from executed prisoners. On its website, under the heading "Where do the kidneys come from?", it says: "A kidney comes from a dead person and, in the majority of cases in China, the dead people are prisoners, which allows us to know at least two weeks ahead of time when the kidney will be ready."
It also makes clear that blood samples are taken from prisoners in advance of their execution to ensure they will be the perfect match for the beneficiaries.
Patients are assured by the company that the procedure is entirely legal in China. By the end of this year, 5,000 prisoners are likely to have been put to death in China during a nationwide anti-crime drive.
Government policy allows the 'harvesting' of organs if the prisoner or the prisoner's family has given written consent, or if the body is not claimed after execution. In practice, however, the rules are often ignored.
Prof Nadey Hakim, head of transplantation surgery at Hammersmith Hospital, said: "I suspect that to get decent organs they most probably operate on the prisoners before they get a bullet in the head. I can't see any other way of doing it."
"Of course people become desperate for a new kidney - but do they realise what this trade is like? When I first heard about it, I couldn't believe it," he said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/a...99,curpg-1.cms
British patients are receiving transplant organs 'donated' by executed prisoners, it emerged on Sunday. Up to 10 people are thought to have travelled to China from the UK for replacement kidneys this year.
One of them is understood to be recuperating after he had a transplant procedure in a hospital in Guangzhou, in the south of the country.
'Transplant tourism' is growing because donor organs are in short supply in the UK. But British surgeons fear patients do not fully understand the suffering behind the murky trade in human organs.
There are strong suspicions that death row prisoners in China have their organs removed - with or without their permission - before being shot, to ensure they are in prime condition.
On Sunday, medical sources in China said January was likely to be a 'bumper month' for organs as it is the usual practice to execute prisoners en masse in the run-up to the Chinese New Year on January 29.
The kidney operations are being offered by an Internet company - transplantsinternational.com - which charges ?23,000 for the procedure. The price includes a month-long stay in hospital with a friend or relative.
The company makes clear the organs are from executed prisoners. On its website, under the heading "Where do the kidneys come from?", it says: "A kidney comes from a dead person and, in the majority of cases in China, the dead people are prisoners, which allows us to know at least two weeks ahead of time when the kidney will be ready."
It also makes clear that blood samples are taken from prisoners in advance of their execution to ensure they will be the perfect match for the beneficiaries.
Patients are assured by the company that the procedure is entirely legal in China. By the end of this year, 5,000 prisoners are likely to have been put to death in China during a nationwide anti-crime drive.
Government policy allows the 'harvesting' of organs if the prisoner or the prisoner's family has given written consent, or if the body is not claimed after execution. In practice, however, the rules are often ignored.
Prof Nadey Hakim, head of transplantation surgery at Hammersmith Hospital, said: "I suspect that to get decent organs they most probably operate on the prisoners before they get a bullet in the head. I can't see any other way of doing it."
"Of course people become desperate for a new kidney - but do they realise what this trade is like? When I first heard about it, I couldn't believe it," he said.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/a...99,curpg-1.cms
