China's Ministry of Health announced on Tuesday that from now
on, Chinese patients would be given priority access to organ
transplants over foreigners. This announcement, made on June 26,
came as an addition to existing human organ transplant regulation
which came into vigor on May 1.
The announcement, issued on the ministry's website on Tuesday,
also bans all domestic medical institutions from carrying out organ
transplant on foreigners under the name of medical tourists, and
further forbids medical staff from circumventing this hindrance by
performing the surgery in another country.
Hospitals and medical institutions must report foreign
applications to provincial health administrations, which will in
turn pass them on to the ministry for approval without which no
organ transplant should be performed.
The regulation also spells out that priority in organ
transplants must be given to Chinese citizens, including permanent
residents from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. However, residents from
the last three regions must provide reports in advance before the
transplant can be given the go-ahead.
The announcement also issued a blanket ban on all organ
transplant advertisements except for those which strictly follow
medical advertisement regulation. Anyone flouting these rules will
face having their license revoked and further stiff punishment.
The regulation on human organ transplant, which bans
organizations and individuals from trading human organs in any
form, stipulates that human organ transplants should be based upon
the principle of voluntary donation and that any organ harvesting
occurring without the owner's permission will be punishable by
law.
Out of the 2 million people in China needing transplants each
year, only 20,000 or so receive them due to a shortage of hearts,
kidneys and other organs. Therefore, some hospitals that are hungry
for cash have turned to providing high-paying foreigners with
operations.
(China.org.cn by Huang Shan, July 3, 2007)