Organ Harvesting
© Fu Zhiyong/ImaginechinaChinese doctors perform a kidney transplant operation at a hospital in Changsha, Hunan province.
China will start phasing out its decades-long practice of using the organs of executed prisoners for transplant operations from November, as it pushes to mandate the use of organs from ethical sources, a senior official said.

China is the only country that still systematically uses organs extracted from executed prisoners in transplants, a practice that has drawn widespread international criticism.

Many Chinese view the practice as a way for criminals to redeem themselves. But officials have recently spoken out against harvesting organs from dead inmates, saying it "tarnishes the image of China".

Huang Jiefu, head of the health ministry's organ transplant office, said it would begin enforcing the use of organs from voluntary donors allocated through a fledgling national programme at a meeting to be held in November.

"I am confident that before long all accredited hospitals will forfeit the use of prisoner organs," Huang said. He did not say how many of the 165 hospitals that are licensed for transplants would be among the first batch to stop using organs from executed prisoners.

Huang said the organ transplant committee would ensure that the "source of the organs for transplantation must meet the commonly accepted ethical standards in the world". That effectively meant the use of prisoners' organs at approved hospitals would come to an end, but the timeframe remained indefinite, he added.

China has launched pilot volunteer organ donor programmes in 25 provinces and municipalities with the aim of creating a nationwide voluntary scheme by the end of 2013. By the end of 2012, about 64% of transplanted organs in China came from executed prisoners and the number has dipped below 54% so far this year, according to figures provided by Huang.

At a meeting in August last year, Huang, who was deputy health minister at the time, told officials that top leaders had decided to reduce dependency on prisoners' organs, according to a transcript of the meeting obtained by Reuters. Rights groups say many organs are taken from prisoners without their consent or their family's knowledge, which the government denies.

Huang said more than 1,000 organ donors had come through the new system so far, benefiting at least 3,000 patients. Voluntary organ donation in China had risen from 63 cases in 2010 to an average of 130 a month this year, he added.

However, not all donated organs are currently allocated through the new programme, leaving room for human interference, one of the main challenges the reform faces.

Supply still falls far short of demand, due in part to the traditional Chinese belief that bodies should be buried or cremated intact. An estimated 300,000 patients a year are put on the waiting list for organ transplants and only about one in 30 will receive a transplant.

The shortage has driven a trade in illegal organ trafficking, and in 2007 the government banned organ transplants from living donors, except spouses, blood relatives and step or adopted family members.

Source: Reuters in Beijing