BEIJING: KIDNEYS are being freely traded on the Internet, which is functioning as a medium for sellers in China
- and for the organ brokers who make huge profits.

Websites are flooded with people who want to make extra money by offering their kidneys, which brokers buy for
40,000 yuan (S$8,180) to 60,000 yuan and may sell for over three times as much.

Major online forums such as www.02066.com.cn and www.as.2sun.cn help organ brokers ply their trade in dozensof cities across China, including Beijing, Tianjin, Zhengzhou and Shangqiu in Henan province, Hangzhou in Zhejiang
province and Dongguan in Guangdong.

Over a million people need kidney transplants every year in China but only 1 per cent of them undergo surgery due to a national organ shortage, according to official statistics. Experts say four out of every five patients die while waiting for a suitable match.

Humans are born with two kidneys, but a person can live normally with one.

Ministry of Health officials said the trade in human kidneys is illegal.

A broker named Xiao Wei in Beijing said the market needs kidneys from people with A, B or O blood type. Sellers
must undergo medical testing to prove they are healthy. Fees for tests and the cost of removing the organs are covered by the brokers.

A purchaser typically pays a broker 130,000 yuan for a kidney. "We have connections with hospitals and doctors, so sellers will be safe during and after the surgery," Mr Xiao said.

Almost all transplants in Beijing are done in top hospitals with organ-transplant licences and purchasers can decide
where to have the surgery, he added.

An agent surnamed Liu in Xingtai in Hebei province said he could arrange kidney transplants for foreign patients as well. "I did it for several foreigners and whatever we do will go undetected," he added.

A 27-year-old man said in an online exchange in August that he wished to sell his kidney to "save his brother's life".

"I needed money but I was not able to get 100,000 yuan in a few days. I heard it?s okay with my body to cut out
one of my kidneys, so I decided to do it," he said.

Dr Chen Shi, a professor in medicine at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, said the illegal trade must
be banned to protect people's rights. "Organ donation should be greatly encouraged to solve organ shortages," he said.

- China Daily/Asia News Network

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