Beijing, August 27: After reports revealed two-thirds of transplanted organs in China were collected from executed prisoners, health officials have launched a system to stop the trend.
Chinese authorities have previously acknowledged that kidneys, corneas, and other body parts from executed criminals have been officially transplanted to patients in need of the organ.
China’s Health Ministry has started the first nationwide organ-donation system in a bid to stop the practice of harvesting organs from executed prisoners.
The program aims to lower the scale of the country’s reliance on death-row inmates as law is expected to curb the use of prisoners’ organs.
Operated jointly with the Red Cross Society of China, the program encourages voluntary donation, which currently remains far below demand. It calls for living donors to stipulate that their organs be donated after death.
According to the state newspaper China Daily, about one million people in China need transplants each year. However, only 1% of the patients receive them.
The low supply of organs has created a black market in the country.
The executed prisoners are taken care of carefully for further use of the organs. Eyes, liver, and kidney are priced from $5,000 to $20,000. Lungs are the most expensive organs with $50,000.
—–Agencies