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2 Japanese had heart transplants in Shanghai, not noted in gov't data+
[March 23, 2006]

2 Japanese had heart transplants in Shanghai, not noted in gov't data+


(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)SHANGHAI, March 23_(Kyodo) _ Two Japanese nationals in their 50s received heart transplants at a Shanghai hospital between 2001 and 2004, sources from a Taiwan company that arranged the transplants said Thursday.



The Japanese government was apparently unaware of the cases, as a survey released by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on March 9 said there were no cases of Japanese receiving heart transplants in Asia outside of Japan.

Ethical and medical concerns have often been raised regarding organ transplants in China over issues such as the use of organs of prisoners on death row and uncertain post-surgery healthcare, experts said.


More than 100 Japanese nationals have received heart transplants abroad because there are few donors available in Japan under strict requirements that brain dead donors be aged 15 or above and that consent be given by both the donor and his family.

Only a total of 160 cases of organ transplants, including 31 heart transplants, have taken place in Japan over the span of eight years and five months since legislation for organ transplants took effect in October 1997.

However, over 12,000 patients are registered on the Japan Organ Transplant Network waiting for matching donors.

While a heart transplant in advanced nations such as the United States is estimated to cost some $860,000 (about 100 million yen), including travel expenses, the sources of the Taipei-headquartered Yeson Healthcare Service Network said it only costs $110,000-$120,000 (about 13 million-14 million yen), at the Zhongshan Hospital in Shanghai.

The sources said a man who lives in Japan received a heart transplant at the hospital, which is affiliated with Fudan University, in 2001 and a Japanese woman who resides in the Netherlands underwent the surgery in 2004. Both are currently in healthy condition, they added.

Most of organs used in transplants at the hospital come from death row prisoners in China, the sources said. The patients get their blood tested at the hospital and it usually takes about two to three weeks to locate a suitable prisoner as the "donor."

"It's questionable whether death-row inmates can really give their consent out of free will so there remains the issue of human rights," said Tsuyoshi Awaya, a professor at Okayama University who is familiar with the issue of organ transplants in China.

Liver transplants cost about $120,000 and kidney transplants about $60,000, according to the sources.

About 100 foreigners receive organ transplants in China every year through arrangements made by Yeson and about 10 percent of them were Japanese, the sources said.

The Zhongshan Hospital began conducting heart transplants in 2000 and has completed more than 150 such operations, they said.

The sources said Chinese authorities issued an order in late 2004 that prohibits providing rewards to donors in order to clamp down on organ sales. In principle, consent from the organ provider himself or his family is now required.

Due to international criticism of the use of organs from death-row inmates, the authorities have instructed hospitals to refrain from conducting transplants for foreigners since the second half of last year, the sources said.

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