Since Lo Chung-mau, Secretary for Health of the Hong Kong Hospital Authority, expressed his hope in December 2022 to integrate Hong Kong hospitals into the China Organ Transplant Response System (COTRS), the number of people canceling their organ donor registration skyrocketed in the same month.
Commentators suspect that the Chinese Community Party is trying to use Hong Kong to “internationalize its organ transplant business” while dodging restrictions of foreign countries against organ transplants in mainland China.
Hongkongers who recently revoked their organ donor registration said that the final straw was when the government decided to initiate a statement to the press on May 22.
The Hong Kong government criticizes some citizens who called for people to cancel their organ donor registration.
Facilitating Convenience of Foreigners’ Organ Transplant
The Epoch Times Political Commentator Shi Shan explains in his program that the authorities plan to transport and swap organs between China and Hong Kong. Shi Shan also mentions that the mainland is opaque and secretive to most things have raised doubts among Hongkongers.China Banned From Organ Transplant Overseas
Shi Shan points out that the organ transport system in mainland China is said to be problematic, leading to most foreign countries legislating and prohibiting their people from getting organ transplants of unknown origin overseas.CCP’s Organ Transplant Business Expansion To Hong Kong
Shi believes that various restrictions have impacted the Chinese organ transplant business; he suspects that “the organ sharing system” between Hong Kong and China is the Chinese Communist Party’s scheme to use Hong Kong as a channel to expand its organ transplant business.“Many countries have restricted and blocked The Chinese Communist Party, making it difficult for the regime to make money. But Hong Kong has not been blocked or restricted yet by foreign countries. So organs taken from Mainland can transport to Hong Kong hospitals for transplantation.”
Shi Shan adds that China can send doctors and medical teams to other hospitals for organ transplantation in many ways. Hence, he suspects the the CCP intends to provide operations to foreigners to earn foreign exchange.
Dr. Jacob Lavee, a renowned heart transplant surgeon and professor of the School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University in Israel, discussed the organ donation sharing systems between China and Hong Kong with The Epoch Times in May 2023.
Lavee said it would likely mean dragging Hong Kong into obtaining live harvested organs.
Banning Suspicious Organs
Israel legislated in April 2014 and banned all Israeli citizens from organ transplant surgery overseas from unknown or illegal sources.The Israeli government also banned insurance companies from paying citizens who have organ transplant procedures done overseas.
Dr. Lavee’s effort is behind the success of Israel’s ban legislation. According to the U.S. news website Axios.com, Dr. Lavee first learned about China harvesting organs on live detainees in 2005.
At the time, one of his patients flew to China two weeks in advance for a heart transplant.
He recalls questioning, “Who can guarantee you a heart on a specific day? Someone has to be dead on the exact day for that to happen.”
The World Versus the CCP’s Live Organ Harvest
Many international investigations have confirmed the regime’s organ harvesting since the scandal exploded in 2006.David Matas, an international human rights lawyer, spoke with Jan Jekielek, senior editor of The Epoch Times, on the issue of live organ harvesting, “The problem is not the lack of evidence. On the contrary, there is too much of it.”
Matas is a co-author and investigator of the 2006 and 2016 reports on the allegations of live organ harvesting on Falun Gong practitioners in China and Bloody Harvest/The Slaughter— An Update.
United States
On March 27,the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Stop Forced Organ Harvesting Act of 2023 to sanction personnel involved in trafficking live organ harvesting, with the maximum civil penalties of up to US$250,000, criminal penalties of up to US$1 million and 20-year imprisonment.Canada
On Dec. 14, 2022, the Parliament of Canada unanimously passed the S-223 Act, a bill to combat illegal human organ extraction and trafficking.Korea
On March 6, 2020, South Korea amended the Korean Internal Organs Transplant Act. The amendment went into effect on Oct. 8, 2020, stipulating any person who received an overseas transplant must submit the required documents and information about the surgery to the Ministry of Health and Welfare within 30 days after returning to Korea.Europe
The Council of Europe passed the Council of Europe Convention to Combat Trafficking In Human Organs in 2014.The Convention determines trafficking organs is a criminal offense, and any perpetrator will be penalized.
Taiwan
On June 12, 2015, Taiwan passed the Human Organ Transplant Act Amendment, which stipulated that organ transplantation should be free of charge or given without reward.Violators will be sentenced to up to five years in prison and fined NT$1.5 million. If the doctor is found to be involved in an intermediary, their license can be revoked as a maximum penalty.
At the time, Yu Mei-nu, a legislative member of the Democratic Progress Party, stated that many people would go to mainland China to receive illegal organ transplantation due to the shortage of organs in Taiwan.
No Reappointments For Taiwanese Doctors
On June 10, 2023, Taiwan’s Changhua Christian Hospital announced two doctors from its organ transplant team had repeatedly visited China to conduct transplantation surgeries without reporting to the hospital, violating the transparency and traceability of organ sources and contract to medical ethics.After carefully considering the principles of medical ethics, the hospital decided not to reappoint the two doctors.
Zero Trust On CCP’s Organ Transplant System
As Hongkongers cancel organ donor cards, Current Affair Commentator Cho Ka-chiu comments on his online program that the trend stemmed from Hongkongers’ distrust and suspicion with China.“If poor mainlanders need a heart transplant but cannot afford the operations, it is not because Hong Kong refuses to donate. It is the mainland that refuses to treat.”
Cho adds the organs might end up in the hands of the rich and people in power.
“Once the organ transplant system is integrated and shared, if a child dies in Hong Kong, is there a mechanism to ensure that Hong Kong children in need obtain the organs first?”
Cho questions if the regime will prioritize its political agenda.
Cancel Culture On Organ Donor Registration
Hongkonger Mr. H (Pseudonym) registered as an organ donor in the Hong Kong system in early 2019.In an interview with The Epoch Times on June 1, Mr. H said he had been wanting to be an organ donor since his school days many years ago.
He informed his family of his wishes and would carry his donor registration card everywhere.
Mr. H always thought he did the right thing by signing up, especially after a phone call from the Health Department to confirm his registration in 2019.
Young Mr. H did not hesitate to be an organ donor as he believed that people in need should get to the vital organs more quickly.
At the end of 2022, Hong Kong experienced the first organ transplantation from the mainland.
A 4-month-old baby girl, Tsz-hay, suffered from dilated cardiomyopathy and developed acute heart failure. The baby girl’s condition remained critical and helpless despite a public appeal for a heart donation by family members and the children’s hospital.
Lo Chung-mau, Secretary for Health at Hong Kong Hospital Authority, said on his blog that he had contacted and requested aid from the CCP’s National Health Commission and the General Administration of Customs. Lo called for a smooth heart transfer between the two places to save the four-months-old’s life if any heart became available from a brain-dead donor in China with no suitable recipient in the Mainland.
At the time, state media, Xinhua News Agency, claimed that the Beijing government was highly concerned about the request.
The Department of Medical Emergency Response of the Health Commission and the international department cooperated with full support from the customs authorities in China.
The departments requested that the China Organ Transplant Response System establish a liaison and emergency planning coordination hub.
Ultimately, the little girl’s heart transplant succeeded through the works of 65 medical and management professionals from Hong Kong and China.
Xinhua News Agency, at the time, said the heart was given by a brain-dead child in China “free of charge.”
The government mouthpiece also quoted Lo Chung-mau, wishing “Hong Kong hospitals could be included in the COTRS based on Tsz-hay’s success story.”
Mr. H did not think of canceling his organ donor registration then, as he did not think the matter concerned him or there was no urgency.
He added that he was well aware of the notorious history of organ transplantation in China.
“The records of the CCP brutalizing people are obvious. In reality, I can also feel the rampancy of those in power in China.”
HKGOV’s Criticizing Hongkongers Backfires
In a May 22, news release, the Hong Kong government criticized people who called for canceling the organ donor register.Noticing the overwhelming media reports, Mr. H decided to see “how crazy the government had been acting.”
Mr. H quoted the government: A small number of individuals distorted the virtue and altruistic value of devotion in organ donation on the Internet.”
“The act completely went against the spirit of selfless love in organ donation; Some individuals also wantonly vilify the constructive significance of the proposed establishment of a standing mutual assistance mechanism for transplant by the two places, undoubtedly despising the inseparable ties between citizens of Hong Kong and the mainland as well as various selfless organ donations and acts of assistance from the mainland.”
“Some individuals disregarded completely the well-being of the patients awaiting organ transplants in the two places, and have the development of organ donation and transplant as well as the allocation system for transplant in the mainland misinterpreted.”
After reading those words, Mr. H immediately revoked his organ donor registration online.
“Although my giving is not considered great, I will not allow the government to spoil it like this.”
A friend of Mr. H, who was waiting for a lung transplant, inspired him to be a cadaveric organ donor for many years.
However, the CCP’s plan to include Hong Kong in its organ-sharing mechanism ultimately defeated the goodwill built up over the years.
“It does not matter what the government promises. Since when are the government’s words trustworthy? Just like what it said about “One Country, Two Systems” and press freedom?”
Mr. H added that the problem lay within the lack of transparency in how the mainland handles business. So he canceled his donor card before the “mutual aid and sharing mechanism for organ transplant” kicked in.
When asked if he would ever consider re-register for organ donation, Mr. H affirmatively said, “No. At least not in Hong Kong. Unless I move away from Hong Kong and begin again in a trustworthy system.”
