Why Has the Number of Transplants and Transplant Centers Increased So Sharply in China Since 1999?

By Zhong Yan

(Clearwisdom.net) The investigative report by the independent Canadian investigation group documents the rapid increase in both the number of organ transplant surgeries and in the number of organ transplant centers and departments since the persecution of Falun Gong began.

What do these increases tell us? From the analysis in the investigation report, we can deduce that the organs used for these transplant surgeries are, in all likelyhood, from Falun Gong practitioners. The increase in the number of organ transplant centers and departments suggests that harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners is supported and allowed by the CCP's policies, and also that there are a many government officials involved in organ harvesting operations.

Quoting from the report:

"According to public reports, there were approximately 30,000 transplants in total done in China before 1999 and about 18,500 in the six year period 1994 to 1999."

"The other identified sources of organ transplants, willing family donors and the brain dead, have always been tiny. In 2005, living-related kidney transplant consists of 0.5% of total transplants national wide. The total of brain dead donors for all years and all of China is 9 up to March 2006. There is no indication of a significant increase in either of these categories in recent years. Presumably the identified sources of organ transplants which produced 18,500 organ transplants in the six year period 1994 to 1999 produced the same number of organs for transplants in the next six year period 2000 to 2005. That means that the source of 41,500 transplants for the six year period 2000 to 2005 is unexplained."

"Where do the organs come from for the 41,500 transplants? The allegation of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners provides an answer."

The report also points out: "The increase in organ transplants in China parallels the increase in persecution of the Falun Gong. These parallel increases, in themselves, do not prove the allegation. But they are consistent with the allegation."

At the press conference, Mr. Matas analyzed the motivations for harvesting organs from living Falun Gong practitioners. One motivation is that organ harvesting is a very lucrative business. The other is that the Falun Gong group has been "dehumanized, vilified, and marginalized." Based on these two realities, it is plausible that the CCP would use imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners as a convenient and safe source of organs.

The report continues: "There appeared to be only 22 liver transplant centers operating across China before 1999, compared to fully 500 in mid-April 2006. The number of liver transplant operations in all of China appeared to total 135 by 1998, contrasted with more than 4000 in 2005 alone. For kidneys, the pattern is also significant (3,596 transplants in 1998 and nearly 10,000 in 2005)." This shows that the number of organ transplant centers increased exponentially during the first seven years of the persecution.

The introduction on the website of the Orient Organ Transplant Center says, "Ground was broken for the Orient Organ Transplant Center in 2002. It is sponsored by the Tianjin City government. The floor area of the Organ Transplant Building will be 30,000 square meters. It can hold 500 hospital beds for organ transplants. The floor area of the hemodialysis building will be 1500 square meters. Thirty hemodialysis machines will be installed in the building. We estimate that in the new center we will be able to conduct 500 liver and 300 kidney transplant surgeries every year. Also, we will conduct heart, lung, small intestine, pancreas and cornea transplants. We believe that Orient Organ Transplant Centers will be the biggest organ transplant centers in Asia."

Before constructing new organ transplant centers, people must make feasible plans, and the first problem they must deal with is the source of their organs. If there are insufficient organs to guarantee the profits to justify the building of those centers, they won't be built.

Taking the Orient Organ Transplant Center as an example, the investigative report says, "A chart ...... indicates that from virtually a standing start in 1998 (when it managed only nine liver transplants) by 2005 it had completed fully 2248." This statistic shows concretely that this center has had access to a sufficient number of organs to guarantee its operation, let alone its initial construction and eventual expansion.

Most hospitals in China are public. It is the government that financially supports the construction, change, and expansion of hospitals. Individual corrupt government officials cannot explain this massive increase in organ transplants, because human organs are not ordinary merchandise. This degree of major organ transplantation suggests that people are murdered for their organs. Without the support and tacit consent of policies at the national level, no hospital would dare to harvest organs from living people, let alone harvest organs on such a large scale.

The investigative report quotes the website of the China International Transplantation Network Assistance Center in Shenyang City, "...the number of kidney transplant operations is at least 5,000 every year all over the country. So many transplantation operations are owing to the support of the Chinese government. The Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Law, embodied by officers, police, judiciary, department of health and civil administration, have, together, enacted a law to make sure that organ donations are supported by the government. This is unique in the world."

This section tells us that harvesting organs from living people is encouraged and supported by the CCP. The Chinese government agencies and its officers are massively involved in it. Driven by huge profits, they are "turning scalpels into butcher knives."

All the evidence supports the conclusion that, during the persecution of Falun Gong, the CCP has, widely and on a large scale, purposefully participated in this anti-human crime.

The CCP will never offer an explanation for the reasons behind the increases in transplants and transplant centers because, behind these two increases, hides "a form of evil we have yet to see on this planet."

July 10, 2006

Chinese version available at http://www.minghui.org/mh/articles/2006/7/11/132713.html

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