(Clearwisdom.net)

26 March 2006

ORGAN transplant in China is again making headlines.

Jin Zhong, a pseudonym for the journalist who fled China recently, claims to have uncovered a secret detention center in the northern part of the country where inmates are being murdered and their organs sold to domestic and international buyers. He said he first learned of the alleged harvesting operation between October and December and that the prisoners were members of the outlawed Falun Gong religious group. "This is murder and murder sponsored by a state," said the reporter who has been a contributor to a Japanese news agency.

'It must be stopped,' he added.

Jin said he came across the underground detention center while researching the Chinese government's response to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars), reported The Washington Times.

A Chinese official was the first person to reveal that secret medical work was being done at the Liaoning Provincial Thrombosis Hospital of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine.

The hospital is in Sujiatun, a suburb of Shenyang, a major city in north-eastern China, Jin said.

He added that he found out that a large underground prison was built beneath the hospital and that members of the outlawed Falun Gong religious group were being held there.

As many as 6,000 people are thought to be held prisoner at the underground facility, he said.

The hospital is harvesting the organs of the prisoners, including kidneys, livers and eye parts, he alleged.

One source for Jin was the wife of a hospital doctor who was involved in the organ harvesting.

The doctor reportedly suffered psychological problems as a result of the gruesome medical work and disclosed the secret activity. The Chinese woman has fled to the US.

Several other hospital workers also revealed details about the prisoner organ harvesting.

Jin said he had to hide his true identity allegedly because of threats from Chinese government agents. He was arrested twice for his reporting and recently fled to the US, where he plans to seek political asylum.

Jin said bodies of the prisoners were burned in the boiler room of the hospital and that workers there had taken jewelry and watches from the dead and sold them. He added that he had provided information about the organ harvesting to US government officials, including members of Congress.

A Chinese Embassy spokesman could not be reached for comment.

Reports of organs being removed from Chinese prisoners have persisted since the 1980s.

However, evidence was only anecdotal given the secrecy surrounding the estimated 8,000 Chinese executions a year, reported UK's The Independent.

Today, however, organ transplants in Shanghai are widely advertised, including on the Internet, with surgery costing US$58,000 ($94,000) for a kidney and US$85,000 for a liver.

The trade is growing despite reports of problems in follow-up care and organ rejection, the newspaper reported.