From Associated Press:
China issued guidelines Tuesday restricting organ transplants for foreigners, giving priority to Chinese patients in the government’s latest effort to regulate procedures that have been criticized as profit-driven and unethical.
Little information about China’s lucrative transplant business is publicly available. One human rights activist said there is fierce competition among hospitals to attract the foreigners, who make up an estimated 30 to 40 percent of transplant patients in China.
Guidelines posted on the Ministry of Health Web site give priority to Chinese patients. Health providers that want to perform transplants on foreigners must apply to the provincial health department, which in turn must seek approval from the national health ministry, according to the rules dated June 26 but posted online Tuesday. [Full Text]
