Physicians specializing in human organ transplant will get disqualified if they fail to conduct transplant operations for three consecutive years, according to new rules announced Sunday.
China's National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) released a regulation on its official website, which stipulates that qualified physicians who fail in regular exams, have their licenses suspended or revoked, or lose capability to practice, will be disqualified from conducting organ transplant surgeries.
The regulation also clarifies the requirements for physicians doing organ transplants.
Physicians who fail to meet training requirements or are found to have obtained their professional qualification by devious means will not be recognized as organ transplant doctors, said the regulation, adding that it also applies to those who are denied civil rights or have received administrative punishment.
The regulation asks doctors who want to enter organ transplant practice to get official verification, and lists a number of qualifications and requirements including a medical practice certificate and previous working experience in surgery and paediatrics departments of major hospitals.
"The Chinese government's attitude toward organ transplant is consistent and clear," said Li Bin, head of the NHFPC, noting that China aims to ensure that organ transplant is done in a legal and legitimate way, previous reports said.
In the first half of 2016, China has completed 1,795 organ removals, up 45 percent compared to the same period last year. The figure was 2,766 last year, which exceeded the number in 2013 and 2014 combined, according to the reports.
"At present, the number of China's organ donation ranks first in Asia and third in the world," Wang Hao, head of the China Organ Transplant Response System, told the 26th International Congress of the Transplantation Society (TTS) in August.
The TTS welcomed the progress China has made in the cessation of use of organs from executed prisoners after a decade of reform, TTS President Philip O'Connell was quoted as saying by Xinhua.
