Taiwan prosecutors indict surgeon over China organ transplants

Taipei, Nov. 25 (CNA) A surgeon and four accomplices were indicted in Taiwan on Monday for allegedly facilitating illegal organ transplants conducted in China.

In a news release, the Changhua District Prosecutors Office said that Chen (陳), a transplant specialist based in Changhua County, orchestrated a criminal ring that profited from sending 10 Taiwanese patients to China to undergo organ transplant surgery between 2016 and 2019.

According to Taiwan's Human Organ Transplant Act, organ transplants may only be provided or acquired free of charge, and "persons who broker organ transplants or the provision and acquisition of organs" may be subject to imprisonment of between one and five years for each offense.

Prosecutors allege that the group led by Chen charged patients between NT$5 million (US$154,000) and NT$7.5 million for liver transplants and between NT$3 million and NT$3.5 million for kidney transplants that were conducted in China's Shandong and Hunan provinces.

By doing so, prosecutors said, Chen made illegal gains totaling NT$14.82 million.

According to prosecutors, Chen identified patients in need of transplants during the course of his professional medical duties, with the Changhua-based surgeon's accomplices -- identified by their surnames Huang (黃), Yang (楊), Lin (林), and Hung (洪) -- handling communications and payments.

Chen is also accused of instructing a nurse, surnamed Hsieh (謝), to travel to China to administer post-surgery care in return for NT$200,000 per patient.

Prosecutors said that Chen personally assisted in conducting the surgeries in Qingdao, Shandong Province and Changsha, Hunan Province.

The prosecutors in the western Taiwanese county began investigating after a tip-off in March 2022.

They now seek a six-year sentence for Chen and three-year sentences for Huang, Yang, Lin, and Hung. They also hope to confiscate the group's illegal gains that allegedly amount to NT$20.37 million.

Meanwhile, Hsieh faces a deferred prosecution but must return NT$1.1 million in illegal gains as part of the nurse's settlement agreement.