China plans reforms to organ donation rules

BEIJING: China is planning changes in its organ donation rules to tackle a shortage of donors and curb illicit harvesting after it stopped taking tissue from executed prisoners five years ago.

The draft rules published Wednesday by the National Health Commission allow people to donate the organs of relatives who have died. They also make it illegal to take organs from living minors as China tries to stamp out child trafficking for harvesting.

China has been grappling with a massive dearth of donors after it ended the controversial practice of harvesting organs from executed prisoners in 2015.

The reforms focus on protecting the legal rights of donors but are unlikely to boost donations given the cultural sensitivities in China of “mutilating a body” after death, said Wang Bing, a Beijing-based lawyer who specialises in medical disputes.

“The number of organ donors is very low and the law falls short of creating an opt-out system, which is the only way to tackle social taboos around the topic,” he said.

Beijing first passed laws to regulate organ donations in 2007 but a lack of clear punishments and enforcement led to a black market where a kidney could be bought for about US$50,000 (350,000 yuan), according to a report last July by China Tribunal, a Britain-based NGO that carries out independent investigations into forced organ harvesting. The amendments include fines and other punishments for individuals and institutions involved in organ trafficking or illegal transplants.