There is no room for organ donation from criminals on death row in China, a Chinese medical expert has said.
Huang Jiefu, head of a national human organ donation and transplant committee and former vice health minister, said in a recent interview with the Beijing Youth Daily that the number of organ donors saw an increase after China banned the use of organs from executed prisoners this year, with 2,297 organ donations so far in 2015.
It is estimated that more than 10,000 organs, a record high, will have been transplanted in the whole year of 2015, according to the newspaper.
"I can guarantee that there is not a single organ from executed prisoners in the China Organ Transplant Response System (COTRS)," he was quoted as saying.
When asked whether organs from condemned prisoners who donate voluntarily should be permitted, Huang said it is inappropriate to talk about the issue while China's legal system is not yet sound.
"Mixing organs from executed prisoners with other loving donors will lead to mistrust in our donation system," he added.
China has long focused on the issue of prisoner organs. In 2011, unauthorized organ trade was listed as a crime in an amendment to China's Criminal Law, before a new system for organ management and distribution was launched in 2013 to better regulate the source of donations.
