Introduction
The World Organization to Investigate the Persecution
of Falun Gong (WOIPFG) has confirmed in their investigations that the Sujiatun
District Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital in Shenyang City, also known as
the Liaoning Province Thrombosis Treatment Center of Integrated Chinese and Western
Medicine (the Thrombosis Hospital for short, below) had set up an unlawful crematorium
to burn the bodies and destroy evidence. The existence of a huge live human organ
bank in the Shenyang City area has been verified. The live harvesting of organs
for transplants from unlawfully detained Falun Gong practitioners were found in
not only at the Sujiatun area but also at many other places throughout Mainland
China.
I. It is Confirmed Again that the Hospital Boiler at the
Sujiatun Thrombosis Hospital Used as Crematorium
As an eyewitness
pointed out, the Thrombosis Hospital was the place where organs of Falun Gong
practitioners were harvested while they were still alive [1]. According to our
investigation, although a funeral parlor exist in the Sujiatun District [2], human
bodies indeed have been cremated inside the hospital boiler. Some people involved
in this gruesome process of burning bodies have collections of rings and other
belongings from the corpses [3]. According to the 1997-issued Interment Management
Regulation from the Chinese State Council, funeral work was managed by the civil
administration department at each level. No one is authorized to build a crematory
facility without approval [4]. The Thrombosis Hospital dares to openly violate
state regulations to cremate human bodies using a private boiler; this implicates
them for having potentially dealt with a large number of corpses, to hide their
actions from public scrutiny.
II. A Huge Live Human Organ Bank
Exists in Shenyang City
Shenyang is one of few cities in
the nation where organ transplants are performed on an extremely large scale
We have discovered that as many as ten hospitals in Shenyang City have
performed organ transplants. In 2005, 250 kidney transplants and 70 liver transplants
were reported. By January 2006, the General Hospital for the Shenyang Military
Region (whose Urology Department is the military region’s kidney transplant
center) has performed over 1,500 kidney transplants. [5] The No. 463 Hospital
of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (an Air Force hospital) in Shenyang
City has topped the Shenyang area in Liaoning Province in terms of the numbers
of homogeneous foreign body kidney transplants performed. By 2005, over 600 kidney
transplants and 120 liver transplants have been performed in the No. 1 Adjunct
Hospital of the China Medical University. [6] Due to the characteristics of the
organ transplant surgeries, the large-scale development of organ transplants could
only be feasible in area where supply is ample.
Organ Supply
Sources
For traditional cultural ethics, Chinese people have always
been conservative regarding the issue of organ donations. Thus, organ donors are
rather scarce in China. According to widely circulated international reports and
witness accounts, the customary source of transplant organs in Mainland China
were those from death-row prisoners. [7] This is an undisputed fact in the international
community. Due to the general practice of organ transplants in various areas in
China, the organs from the death-row prisoners could only be used by local hospitals
near the execution site of the prisoners, with a few exceptions. According to
an Amnesty International report, about 2,000 prisoners were executed annually
in China, [8] and the number of highest estimate could be as high as 10,000 per
year. According to our medical experts, the donor match of live kidney transplants
between direct-related family members is 50%, but the possibility of a complete
match between two non-family members is one out of several million. [9] So, considering
factors such as tissue type matching, even in an incomplete match, the actual
rate of utilization of organs from death prisoners is rather low.
Applying
the numbers to such a city like Shenyang, even if all usable organs from death-
row prisoners that match the tissue type are utilized, the availability still
cannot satisfy the annual quantity needed for actual transplant operations in
that city. Yet, Wu Gang, associate professor of Organ Transplant Department in
the No. 1 Adjunct Hospital of China Medical University stated, “At present,
we have completely sufficient kidney sources in Shenyang!” [10]
Waiting
time for organ transplant
Due to the lack of readily available
kidney donors, the waiting time for a suitable kidney is lengthy. Even in the
US where the sense of public organ donation is commonplace, a patient in the New
England area usually needs to wait three to seven years in average for a kidney
transplant, where medical institutions are abundant. According to the information
from the foreign groups who organize people to go to China for organ transplant
and results from the WOIPFG investigators, it only takes one week to one month
to have a kidney transplant in China, including tissue type matching time. [11]
The China International Transplantation Network Assistance Center
(CITNAC) at the China Medical University in Shenyang City guaranteed one month
and no longer than two months of waiting time for liver transplants. The waiting
time to find a proper kidney is only one week, at most one month. If a problem
arises during surgery with the provided kidney, they will guarantee another one
in less than one week. [12] Because the kidney source for this possible emergency
also need to match tissue type of the recipient, it is almost impossible to get
a match from an executed prisoner or someone who died from an accident. The only
likely source comes from a spare organ bank. Considering that a kidney has to
be transplanted within 24 hours, supplies at the spare organ bank must come from
living people. Taking into account tissue type matching and other factors, the
truth is that a spare live human organ bank with a quite huge cardinal number
for tissue type matching and harvesting is in operation at any time.
Providing
organ transplant for foreigners
CITNAC in Shenyang City was
established in 2003. Through its website in five different languages (Japanese,
Korean, English, Russian and Chinese), the center attracts patients around the
world and claims that each year, more than 100 kidney transplants and 20 liver
transplants are performed at the center.
Since 2004, more than 100
Japanese patients received organ transplants in Shenyang City alone. [13]
From 2003 to 2005, more than 3,000 South Korean citizens went to China
for organ transplants.
Voice of America has reported on a person
in Vancouver who is conducting international business on kidney transplant and
has arranged for many Canadian patients travelling to China for kidney transplant
surgeries.
III. Sujiatun Concentration Camp is not the only
one; at least eight provinces and cities have concentration camps for live harvesting
of human organs from abducted Falun Gong practitioners
According
to official numbers from China, from 1991 to 1998, only 78 liver transplants were
performed nationally. However, since the year 1999 when the ban on Falun Gong
started, the number multiplied quickly, with 118 liver transplant surgeries in
1999, 254 in 2000 and 486 in 2001. By 2001 the liver transplant surgeries totaled
996. [14] By 2003, the number drastically increased to over 3,000, [15] which
means that the nation-wide supplies of organs since 1999 have increased noticeably.
We showcased liver transplants as example here because without the liver, a single
organ, the donor could not survive after the liver is removed.
Investigations
from the WOIPFG has shown that organs from Falun Gong practitioners were used
for transplant in provinces and cities such as Henan, Shandong, Shanghai, Guangzhou,
Beijing, Tianjin, Liaoning, Hunan and Hubei, but probably others also. Hospital
staff and directly participating doctors have expressed that they can provide
Falun Gong practitioners’ organs. [16] Based on our initial investigation,
we are able to conclude that Sujiatun Concentration Camp is not the only one where
live organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners for transplant purposes took
place; such type of concentration camps exist in most part of China.
We
have documented a few cases here. More details will follow in a separate report:
Case No. 1 (an adjunct hospital of one medical university in Hunan Province)
Doctor:
The organs we chose were from young and healthy person. We would absolutely not
use those from the elderly.
Investigator: Are there any from Falun Gong
practitioners?
Doctor: You should rest for sure about it. (Note: which means
“absolutely”)
Case No. 2 (a hospital in Shandong Province)
Investigator:
a kidney from a person who practices Falun Gong is disease-free; do you have any
of those types…
Doctor: Umh…We have more and more such kind now,
and in April we will sure to get even more.
Investigator: Why there are
more in April?
Doctor: I cannot not tell you about it, because it relates
to…it doesn’t mean…We don’t need to explain to you about it
because it cannot be explained…
Case No. 3 (a hospital in
Guangzhou City)
Investigator: How long should we wait for a kidney transplant?
Doctor:
If you come over, you only need to wait for about a week.
Investigator:
But the kidney for transplant should be healthy and fresh, better from a live
donor. You would not use an organ from a dead person, right?
Doctor: We
will of course use the good one!
Investigator: Are there any from people
who practice Falun Gong?
Doctor: The ones we use here are all this type.
Case No. 4 (a medical university in Tianjin City)
Investigator:
The doctor said that the kidney source is very good because the person practiced
Qigong. When asked which kind of Qiqong, the reply was Falun Gong. Is it true
that those who practice Falun Gong have better health? …
Hospital staff:
Of course, we have this kind here as well…the organs were from persons who
did still breathed or had a heart beat. We will have some too; we have got more
than ten kidneys of such kind so far this year…Of course, the quality of
the organ supplier is a key factor, which means that the person must be young
and the time period for warm blood shortage is very short after removal [when
blood supply is insufficient and the kidney stays at normal body temperature];
sometimes we even don’t have this period of warm blood shortage. The kidney
of such type has never had this problem, so it must be very good for recovery
of the patient in the long run. This is for sure…
World
Organization to Investigate the Persecution of Falun Gong
Reference:
1. The Epoch Times, March 17,
2006, “New Witness Confirms Existence of Chinese Concentration Camp, Says
Organs Removed from Live Victims,” http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-3-17/39405.html
2. Northern Land Net, address of Sujiatun funeral parlor: Qiansandao
Gangzi Village, Shenhe Town. Direction: take westbound bus from Nanta bus terminal
toward Chenxiang; departure every half hour. Tel: 24-89572311
3.
WOIPFG investigation record: SJT_X_0004
4. Interment Management
Regulation from the Civil Administration Department of the People’s Republic
of China, http://www.mca.gov.cn/mca/laws/fagui20.html
Article 3:
The civil administration department of the State Council is responsible for the
national funeral work. The civil administration office of the local government
above county level is in charge of the funeral work in its jurisdiction.
Article
9: Nobody is allowed to build funeral facility without approval.
5.
Business Times, December 9, 2005
6. Chinese People’s
Liberation Army No. 463 Hospital website, May 12, 2004, “Air Force Urology
Research Center”
7. Phoenix Weekly, The 21st issue of
2005 (the general 190th issue)
8. Amnesty International Annual
Report
9. Xinhua Net source, January 14, 2004: Morning News
“Kidney Sale Ad Rampant in Shanghai and Loophole in the Law has ‘Created’
Kidney Market,” reported by Du Chen and Wang Hongwei
10.
Chinese Business News, December 24, 2004, “Human Organ Sale Ad All over Hospital
and Doctor Claimed Sufficient Kidney Sources (with photo),” reported by Gan
Jing.
11. WOIPFG investigation record: SJT_F_
12. China International Organ Transplant, “The Selection of Volunteers”
13. Boxun News Net, March 1, 2006, quote from Japanese Common News Agency
“Japanese government to Investigate Death of Japanese citizens from Organ
Transplant in China.”
14. Health Newspaper, November
2, 2004, “The History of Organ Transplant in Our Country”
15. Oriental Organ Transplantation Center Net, November 5, 2004, “The
Silent Formation of Chinese Organ Transplant Market”
16.
WOIPFG investigation record: SJT_F
Posting date: 4/April/2006
Original
article date: 3/April/2006
Category: World News
