March 30, 2006

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 21^st issue of 2005 (the general 190^th 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"