China saved 100 organ trafficking victims during crackdown, Vatican conference is told
Beijing officials highlight progress as they try to convince world they are serious
Chinese health authorities told a Vatican trafficking conference that Beijing’s efforts to crack down on illegal “underground” organ transplants had resulted in 220 arrests and 100 victims being rescued over the past 10 years.
Dr Wang Haibo, deputy chief of China’s organ donation and transplant foundation, provided the data as part of China’s efforts to convince the international medical community that it no longer harvests organs from executed prisoners.
He reaffirmed on Wednesday that the organ harvesting practice officially stopped in 2015 and that China was working to prevent illegal transplant activity.
He said the underground trade, mostly in kidneys, was not conducted in hospitals but in remote civilian, non-medical facilities.
“This kind of underground activity – they’re getting smarter, so it’s difficult to identify,” he said.
To combat it, Wang said the health ministry and police recently began surveillance of transplant candidates’ contacts with potential organ brokers via their communications and social media.