China will issue its regulations on human organ transplants "soon", said an official of the Ministry of Health (MOH).

"The draft of the regulations has been submitted to the State Council for amendment," said Wang Jianrong, vice director of the MOH regulations department as quoted in Monday's Guangming Daily.

Under the new regulations, a new organization will be in charge of registering and allocating donated organs, and evaluating the quality of the organ transplant surgery.

Only the top-tier hospitals - usually located in provincial capitals - will be allowed to perform organ transplants once they have been approved by the MOH. It remains to be seen whether exceptions will be made in emergency cases.

Currently, China has no clear laws on human organ transplants. This has resulted in transplants being carried out by unqualified doctors with substandard medical equipment, leading to the death of some patients. It is also widely claimed that hospitals are preoccupied with the quantity of organ transplants rather than the quality.

"The MOH will strictly control the number of hospitals licensed to perform organ transplants and supervise the quality of the surgery," said Wang Jianrong.

Ministry of Health statistics indicate that China performed 34,726 organ transplants from 2000 to 2004, and at the end of 2004,599 medical institutions did liver, kidney, heart and lung transplants.

Though organ transplants have been performed in China for 40 years, the absence of laws concerning organ transplants and irregular organ transplant practices in some medical institutions have hindered the promotion of organ transplants in the country, Huang Jiefu, Vice Minister of Health, told a conference on the management of organ transplants held in Guangzhou recently.

Meanwhile, China is still suffering a serious shortage of human organ donations.

"About 1.5 million people in China need transplants each year, but only around 10,000 operations can be carried out due to organ shortages,"

"Social customs are a big reason," Huang said, explaining that many Chinese are unwilling to donate organs because of traditional rituals and beliefs. Furthermore, education of the public about donation is lacking, he said.

Despite the shortage, a few medical institutions and practitioners advertised organ transplants for foreigners through Internet and exaggerated the effects of the surgeries driven by high profits, Monday's Guangming Daily reported.

Huang noted that advertisements aimed at attracting foreign patients disguised as tourists to receive transplant operations in China were strictly prohibited.

"Chinese people, including those in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, are giver the first priority in receiving human organ transplant services in China," Huang said.

"Overseas patients can receive organs under specific application procedures that conform to World Health organization rules," Huang said.

Wang Jianrong also confirmed "under guidance of the new regulations, we can strengthen our fight against the sales of organs."

The Ministry of Health banned the sale of human organs on July 1, 2006.

(Xinhua News Agency November 28, 2006)