4. The CCP Regime Promotes the Human Organ Transplant Industry

A witness of what went on in the Sujiatun Concentration Camp said that in the eyes of the CCP, Falun Gong practitioners are not treated as human beings, but as raw materials that can be converted into commodities. Their bodies are used for the purpose of organ transplant and medical experimentation. The CCP's system has laid a foundation for the rapid development of China's organ transplant industry.

4.1 CCP Invests Huge Amounts of Money in Promoting the Development of Transplant Techniques and Clinical Practice

The CCP is using some local hospitals and military teaching hospitals as the base, and is investing a large amount of money to establish numerous organ transplant technology research centers and key laboratories. At the same time, the CCP engages hospitals that conduct a large number of organ transplant procedures to carry out the clinical practice, and to utilize the new technology in this emerging industry.

The Xiangya Number Three Medical College in Changsha City was designated by the Ministry of Public Health as a focal point for development. It occupied 223 Chinese acres and required a capital investment of 550 million yuan. In 2001, its organ transplant research institute spent 80 million yuan to construct an organ transplant center holding 150 beds. On June 3, 2005, the Xinhua News Agency reported that a transplant technology research center of national caliber had been established in the Xiangya Number Three Medical College of Zhongnan University. Research Center Director Huang Zufa claimed that this center is a leader in the fields of biological material, structural engineering, cellular structure, and organ transplantation. The next step is to combine scientific research, clinical practice, development, and production into one unit to become a transplant engineering center.

According to a 2004 Liberation Daily report, in 2002, the Shanghai Science Committee established numerous significant research topics on organ transplants, and invested 8 million yuan to develop clinical practice and research projects of the heart, lung, liver, and other major organ transplants at the following five hospitals - Fudan College Zhongshan Hospital, Second College of Medicine Ruijin Hospital, City First Hospital, Second Military Medical University Dadongfang Liver and Gallbladder Hospital, and City Lung Hospital. In 2003, there were 1,000 organ transplant operations in Shanghai, including more than 400 liver transplants and 57 heart transplants. This exceeded the numbers in 2001 by more than ten times, making the Shanghai Science Committee number one in the nation and in the world in several categories of organ transplant operations. For example, it was the first to perform lung transplants involving different blood types. The committee's "liver and abdominal organ transplants" and "harvested liver and hepatorenal organ transplants" won the 2003 Shanghai Clinical and Medical Service Achievement Award. In 1999, Changzheng Hospital had very few cases of organ transplants. By April 2006, it claimed that it had four teams that can perform surgeries 24 hours a day.

The CCP's military medical universities and the medical colleges have trained a large number of students to make up the core of the organ transplant hospitals. These medical colleges and their affiliated hospitals have assisted and instructed other medical facilities in developing organ transplant procedures. They are called the Huangpu Military Academy of Organ Transplantation.

The Xinan Liver and Gallbladder Surgical Hospital of the Third Military Medical University Xinan Hospital in Chongqin City was established to become the key laboratory of liver transplants for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and a center for liver transplants for the entire armed forces. The hospital has highly advanced first-class equipment, multi-function research labs, and one of the largest liver, gallbladder, and pancreas surgical departments in the world. It also assists in and teaches liver transplant procedures for 21 medical facilities in the following provinces: Jiangsu, Shandong, Guangdong, Shanxi, Henan, Yunnan, Sichuan, Xinjiang, Guizhou, and Fujian. Its website states that they have trained fifty post-doctorate students and doctorates, seventy-five master's degree holders, and 762 graduate students in the liver, gallbladder, and pancreas surgical department. These graduates are the technical backbones and the scientific leaders in liver, gallbladder, and pancreas surgery in China.

The Qianfoshan Hospital in Jinan City, Shandong Province has 800 beds. Kidney, liver, testicle, lung, and cornea transplant surgeries are commonplace at this hospital. The hospital has forty-four PhD and master's instructors and ninety some concurrent professors at Shandong University. They teach clinical practice at the Shandong University Clinical Practice College, Shandong Chinese Medicine University, Weifan Medical College, Taishan Medical College, Binzhou Medical College, and the provincial public health department medical schools. Qianfoshan Hospital uses a system called "running water" to harvest organs from Falun Gong practitioners. They collude with provincial jails and labor camps that operate as storage units to supply live organs for organ harvesting and transplant. The deals are brokered by live organ traffickers who share in the profits. Together, they form a murderous, efficient assembly line.

The affiliated hospitals of famous universities such as Qinghua University, Beijing University, People's University, Fudan University, Tongji University, Zhongnan University, Jilin University, Huazhong Technical University, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Guangzhou Zhongshan University, Xian Jiaotong University, and Lan University, as well as the affiliated hospitals of most of the medical schools, are all developing organ transplant technology and conducting clinical practice and classroom instruction.

4.2 China's Medical System Promotes Organ Transplants

In March 2006, Deputy Minister Huang Jiefu from China's Ministry of Public Health stated, "In order for a hospital to pass Sanjia Hospital's inspection, one of the requirements is the ability to complete more than five types of organ transplant operations. Therefore, organ transplants have become a goal and a marketing tool for the hospitals. Presently, there are many hospitals in the nation that are developing organ transplant procedures of the kidney, liver, and heart."

In Mainland China, the organ transplant certification is obtained via administrative assignment and by meeting certain medical standards. This system is called "two legs walking". On one hand, the medical administrative and management departments assign each region a quota for organ transplants. For example, West Guangzhou must have a certain number of hospitals that are allowed to perform organ transplants, and East Guangzhou has its own required number. As a result, some hospitals that don't meet the requirements or the criteria were given an allotment to perform organ transplants. On the other hand, some hospitals create their own sets of standards in order to be approved by the relevant departments and to reach the goal of performing organ transplant procedures. Tempted by the huge profits, many more hospitals have started to perform organ transplants even though they do not meet the criteria.

Minister Mao Xiaoling of the Ministry of Quality Evaluation of the Guangdong Medical Association stated, "Of the fifty hospitals in the province that applied for approval to do organ transplants, eighteen of them were denied. Of the ones that were denied, some of them are performing organ transplant procedures. As far as I know, there are more than ten hospitals in Guangdong that did not apply for the approval and are doing organ transplant operations. Due to the lack of administrative oversight and punitive laws, we are helpless and can only watch them conduct the practice." At this point, we do not have the total number of hospitals that are involved or the number of operations that have been done in Guangdong.

4.3 The Ministry of Public Health Takes the Lead to Form a Nationwide Organ Transplant and Distribution Network

According to Dazhong Daily, in September 2003 Deputy Minister Huang Jiefu from China's Ministry of Public Health held a seminar on establishing China's organ transplant laws at the Xiangya Number Three College in Zhongnan University. Huang Jiefu pointed out that the legislation should solve the current problem of organ distribution and management. It could be accomplished under the administration of the Ministry of Public Health, and gradually form a network involving the provinces, the regions, and the nation, eventually reaching the goals of avoiding the transportation of the organs to cut the cost of the procedure in half, and decreasing the wait time to dramatically increase the number of the procedures that are performed. At the Ministry of Public Health Conference in October 2005, Huang Jiefu mentioned that the Xiangya Number Three College will take on the responsibility of coordinating the nation's organ transplant network.

Scholars estimate that the Ministry of Public Health, under the direction of the army, has established several large scale organ tissue storage units in China. Organ transplant hospitals and important institutions such as the Xiangya Number Three College are becoming the nation's coordination centers for organ distribution. They will be responsible for coordinating all the organ storage units in the nation and establishing a nationwide organ distribution network. According to reports, it is possible that Jilin, Liaoning, Heilongjiang, Xinjiang, Shandong, Hunan, Tianjin, Hebei, Yunnan, Sichuan, Chongqing, Fujian, and Guangdong provinces all have large scale live organ storage units.

4.4 Organ Transplants Eligible to Be Covered by Health Insurance

On June 14, 2006, it was announced at a press conference by the Second Worldwide Medical Summit in Shanghai that organ transplant operations performed at seven third class Shanghai hospitals would be covered by medical insurance. The seven hospitals are: Zhongshan, Huashan, Ruijin, Renji, Changhai, Changzheng, and First City Hospital. The announcement was reported in the Xinwen Morning Paper on July 14. The news was delivered by Professor Wang Guomin, Vice President of Fudan University Medical School and its affiliate hospital, Zhongshan Hospital.

According to a report from Shanghai Xinhua News Agency on July 12, starting from July 15, the blood stem cell transplant procedure will be covered by the Shanghai Basic Medical Insurance. This reduces the medical cost for bone marrow transplant patients by one third to one half.

On September 6, 2005, Xinkuai News reported that Provincial Political Commissar Zou Yuezhao proposed the following; "Due to the fact that Guangdong has the highest population in the nation with hepatitis B, it is called 'Liver Ailment Province.' Although some families have exhausted their life savings for a liver transplant to extend their life temporarily, they are unable to afford the medical costs. We should extend public health service coverage and basic medical reimbursement coverage to those patients with severe liver ailments who need liver transplant operations and anti-rejection medication." The Provincial Labor Department and the Social Security Department expressed that they are expediting the research and analysis in order to obtain approval from the Ministry of Labor Insurance.

On July 21, 2006, Nanfan Daily News reported: "The Municipal Social Security Management Center announced yesterday that Shenzhen City leads the nation in including heart transplant, liver transplant, and malignant tumor cellular immunology therapy in Local Supplemental Medical Insurance." Shenzhen Social Security Medical Department Head Shen Hualiang said that in order to reduce the economic burden on the insured, the Local Supplemental Medical Insurance will cover 850f the relevant medical costs. This will only lead to more organ transplantation surgeries, which under normal circumstances are a good thing, but in China, is a terrible outcome given the source of those organs.

Conclusion

Tianjin Oriental Organ Transplant Center's website claims: "Because of the support from the Chinese Communist Government, organ transplant procedures have improved tremendously. The Chinese Communist People's Supreme Court, People's Supreme Procuratorate, Department of Public Security, Department of Justice, Ministry of Public Health, and the Bureau of Civil Administration have issued a law to support and safeguard the organ transplant donor program. This is the first and only such law in the world."

The Chinese Communist Party, in the process of eliminating Falun Gong, persecuting "Truthfulness, Compassion, and Forbearance," and destroying human nature, has enlisted the army, armed police, public security, judiciary, medical service system, all levels of government officials, organ traffickers and brokers, organ transplant patients and their families to become involved in this systematic, inhumane, and criminal behavior at the national level.

When innocent lives are suffering such inhumane cruelty, everyone has the responsibility to come forward, expose, and eliminate "a form of evil we have yet to see on this planet."*

* Note: Quote from "Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong practitioners in China" by David Kilgour and David Matas.