Health authorities in Taiwan said on Thursday that they will not accept skin that the Chinese mainland has attempted to donate to the survivors of a recent explosion until they confirm that it did not come from executed prisoners.
Taiwan's "minister of health and welfare" Chiang Been-huang said they need to make sure the skin did not come from executed people, as the island's Human Organ Transplantation Act forbids this practice, adding that he appreciated the Chinese mainland's donation, the Taiwan-based news site newstalk.tw reported on Thursday.
As of Friday, two people have died and another 211 sustained serious injuries after flammable powder that was thrown on a crowd ignited at a recreational park in Taiwan's New Taipei city on June 28, the Xinhua News Agency reported on Friday.
The majority of the victims suffered severe burns and inhaled large amounts of black carbon dust, and many are in urgent need of skin grafts.
The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council said on Thursday that the Chinese mainland would seek to provide medical assistance and donate medical supplies, including synthetic skin substitutes valued at 10 million yuan ($1.6 million) donated by Shaanxi Aierfu ActivTissue Engineering Co as well as skin worth 20 million yuan collected by Sheng Zhiyong, a burns expert, Xinhua reported on Thursday.
The local health authorities on Tuesday said they planned to purchase the skin of deceased people from the Chinese mainland, the US, the Netherlands and Japan. The first batch of 155 pieces of skin from the US was scheduled to arrive in Taiwan on Friday night, according to local media.
Taiwan's "legislature" passed amendments to the Human Organ Transplantation Act in early June, banning the sale and purchase of organs for transplantation, as well as the use of organs from executed prisoners, the Taipei Times reported on June 13.
