China has stepped up its campaign to clamp down on illegal sales of blood in its bid to halt the spread of Aids.
Chinese television this week reported fears that contaminated blood plasma had been imported from South Africa, while other media reports have highlighted the dangers of black markets in syringes and blood donations.
No one knows the true extent of HIV infection in rural China, from where most of the paid blood donors come, and hence the full extent of the problem.
The Ministry of Health says there have been only 18,143 recorded cases of HIV infection and 670 Aids patients. It is generally estimated by the Government that the real figure may be 500,000 HIV cases although, other experts have put the total as high as four million.
Since 1998, the Government has tried to enforce a new law on blood donations to protect patients, to define the responsibilities of health authorities and stop the illegal trade in blood.
The Legal Daily recently reported a key test case in which a nine-year-old child was awarded 380,000 yuan (HK$353,000) in damages after the Health Bureau in Xinye county, Henan province, was taken to court. The child was infected with HIV during a blood transfusion after being injured in a fall in 1996.
The family, which only succeeded in bringing their case to court in 1998, had originally sought more than 10 million yuan in damages.
