Taiwan Headlines, 10/29/2007 (CNA)
http://www.taiwanheadlines.gov.tw/ct.asp?xItem=92929&CtNode=10
Taipei, Oct. 29 (CNA) Taiwanese doctors who are found to have helped solicit
local patients seeking organ transplants in China are subject to legal
penalties, an official with the Cabinet-level Department of Health (DOH) said
Monday.
Hsueh Jui-yuan, director of the DOH Bureau of Medical Affairs,
said such doctors could be disciplined for violation of medical ethics. The
penalties, depending on the seriousness of the violation, range from an official
reprimand to having their licenses to practice revoked, he added.
Hsueh
made the remarks at a news conference held at the Legislative Yuan by ruling
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Tien Chiu-chin who alleged that China
might have become the world's "organ transplant supermarket."
Pointing
out that many international human rights organizations have expressed concern
about China's frequent execution of prisoners, Tien implied that many of those
executed -- many of whom were reportedly young and strong -- might be executed
for their organs rather than as punishment for their crimes.
Tien
claimed that a "young and strong" executed prisoner would be worth about NT$5
million (US$154,320) if his organs were to be removed and sold to Taiwanese
patients.
Tien also alleged that China has offered "organ transplant
tourism" packages, soliciting Taiwanese citizens seeking organ transplants in
China, taking only two or three weeks to match patients with suitable organs and
make other relevant arrangements.
The DOH has instructed that a probe be
conducted into reports of a Chinese doctor coming to Taiwan to solicit local
patients seeking liver transplants in China, DOH officials said.
The
Taipei-based Liberty Times reported Oct. 24 that Zhu Zhijun, director of the
organ transplant center of the Tianjin First Central Hospital, came to Taiwan in
March and conducted assessments in the company of two Taiwanese doctors on liver
disease patients waiting to travel to China to get transplants. The Tianjin
hospital is touted as the biggest liver transplant center in Asia.
Hsueh
said the DOH has instructed the Taipei city government Department of Health to
conduct a thorough probe into the matter, including who were the two Taiwanese
doctors who reportedly accompanied Zhu during his visit in Taiwan.
He
added that Chang Gung Memorial Hospital in Kaohsiung, southern Taiwan, which
invited Zhu to come to Taiwan, should also be dealt with according to the
Statute Governing the Relations Between the people of the Taiwan Area and the
Mainland Area.
Also speaking at the Legislative Yuan session, Yang
Chia-chun, director of the Legal Affairs Department under the Cabinet-level
Mainland Affairs Council, said that doctors from three or four Taiwanese
hospitals are suspected of having served as brokers between Taiwanese patients
and Chinese organ suppliers. He added that the investigations into those cases
are continuing. (By Deborah Kuo)