Crackdown on organ transplant medical tourism in China, UK, Egypt and Colombia

China’s Ministry of Health is targeting illegal organ transplants, after reports surfaced that some hospitals were illegally doing organ surgeries for foreigners. The ministry says that any medical institutions could have their licenses revoked if they cannot pass the ongoing qualification re-examination. At present, 164 medical institutions on the Chinese mainland are licensed to carry out organ transplants nationwide. The ministry has named 16 hospitals that have failed to comply with regulations on organ transplants. Under the National Organ Transplantation Committee and the ministry, an

China’s Ministry of Health is targeting illegal organ transplants, after reports surfaced that some hospitals were illegally doing organ surgeries for foreigners.

The ministry says that any medical institutions could have their licenses revoked if they cannot pass the ongoing qualification re-examination. At present, 164 medical institutions on the Chinese mainland are licensed to carry out organ transplants nationwide. The ministry has named 16 hospitals that have failed to comply with regulations on organ transplants. Under the National Organ Transplantation Committee and the ministry, an expert team will further evaluate other organ transplant practitioners.

Organ transplants in China are covered by the 2007 regulations that establish national oversight and credentials for Chinese transplant officials. The regulations ban organ trade, organ trafficking and transplant tourism for foreigners and establish a national organ donation system that includes deceased and living donors.

Official estimates indicate that 2 million Chinese need organ transplants each year, but only 20,000 operations are performed because of a severe shortage of donors. But still some hospitals sell organs to foreigners as a lucrative business. Three hospitals were penalized for illegally selling human organs to foreigners in 2008.

In February, the ministry launched an investigation into a report that 17 Japanese tourists each spent about $87,000 for liver or kidney transplant operations at an unidentified hospital in Guangzhou. There is a regular stream of reports from within hospitals, that some hospitals are totally ignoring the regulations, faking identities to fool authorities and still performing organ transplants on foreigners who were willing to pay. There is a gap between current regulations that insist on the informed consent of donors and regulate recipients, and reality. Organ brokers advertise on the internet and some medical staff at hospitals advise patients to find their own source of organs to avoid lengthy waits.

In the UK, from October, medical tourists from abroad will be banned from coming to the UK to receive donor organs as part of a new crackdown on medical tourism following cases of foreigners paying for organ donations from NHS donors. An official investigation revealed that earlier this year private patients from China, Libya and the United Arab Emirates were among 50 foreigners who were given new livers in the UK.

A report issued by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2007 named five international hotspots for organ transplants tourism as China, Pakistan, the Philippines, Egypt and Colombia.

In Egypt, inadequate legislation regulating human organ transplants has made Egypt the international hotspot for kidney trafficking. Up to 95 % of the 3000 legal kidney transplants per year, and hundreds of illegal ones, involve a commercial transaction. A nationwide ban on organ transplants from cadavers means all kidneys must be harvested from live donors. Most are sourced by organ brokers from destitute young Egyptians, who are coerced into selling their kidney to pay off debts or meet rising living costs. The organs are sold to clients, often wealthy Gulf Arabs, who use forged documents to circumvent a ban on transplants to unrelated or non-Egyptian recipients. Official periodic crackdowns on hospitals and clinics performing transplants for foreign clientele have done little to deter transplant tourism.

A draft law to regulate organ transplants was recently rejected by Egypt’s parliament. The bill had proposed to ban the sale of organs, prohibit transplants to foreigners, and impose sentences of up to 15 years in prison and 180,000 dollars fines for violations. It also sanctioned cadaveric organ transplants, which would have alleviated the pressure on live donors. Proponents expect the bill to pass when the legislature convenes in the fall.

In Colombia, all transplants, including those on foreigners, must be approved by Colombia’s national health agency, and a 2004 law calls for available organs to be offered to Colombians first. However, several websites offer new livers and kidneys in Colombia within 90 days, and it is increasingly becoming a medical transplant tourism for Americans, where there are thousands more in need of a transplant than can get one.