China To Impose Strict Controls On Human Organ Transplants

China's ministry of health plans to impose strict controls on the increasingly lucrative organ transplant industry, state media said Wednesday, quoting a government academic.

Li Leishi, of the state-linked China Academy of Engineering, said the government would inspect hospitals to see if they are qualified to conduct transplants and license those that are, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Many facilities claiming to be able to perform transplant operations actually have little experience, experts were quoted as saying.

Beijing, for example, has more than 40 hospitals which claim to be capable of conducting transplants but most have done only one or two such operations, they said.

The number of operations is meanwhile skyrocketing as an increasing number of Chinese can afford the expensive procedures and hospitals try to cash in on the demand.

Last year 6,000 organ transplants were performed in China, Xinhua said.

The new licensing system will help increase patients' survival rates, shorten waiting times, cut transplant costs and ensure medical resources are used effectively, said Li, who was attending a symposium on human organ transplants.

China's organ transplant industry is tainted with allegations that the organs of executed prisoners are routinely harvested and sold to hospitals.

In June state media quoted vice minister of health Huang Jiefu as saying the government plans to issue regulations banning the trade in human organs.

The new rules would make it illegal for courts to sell organs of executed prisoners to hospitals and outlaw advertisements for buying and selling organs.

It was unclear whether the new hospital licensing system was part of a government crackdown.

The central government has denied promoting the use of prisoners' organs.

But Chinese media has reported that sometimes courts use vans to quickly harvest the organs of an executed prisoner and rush them to hospital.

It is uncommon for ordinary Chinese to donate their organs due to traditional beliefs that the body of the deceased should be left intact.