A man suspected of organizing illegal blood donations and
another involved in making false identity cards for "professional"
donors in Jieyang City in south China's Guangdong Province have
been apprehended, local police said Sunday.
Police are trying to capture another gang boss who is on the
run. Investigations are continuing and five blood donors are ready
to give evidence, the police said.
The health department of the Guangdong provincial government
confirmed in a press release Saturday night that gangs in the area
have been making profits by illegally organizing people to sell
blood.
The release said the local government has taken "immediate and
effective" action to crack down on the illegal practice and has
been carrying out a thorough investigation of blood collection at
the city's central collection point.
Investigation has shown that the "donors" sell blood under false
names, according to the department.
Local health authorities started investigation on Wednesday
after media disclosed that gang leaders are recruiting desperate
migrants from Jiangxi, Anhui and other provinces and sending them
to Jieyang to sell blood.
At blood collection points, donors are customarily paid around
200 yuan (US$26) to cover traveling and other expenses.
One of the donors told the Beijing Evening News that
gang bosses typically deduct a commission of 80 yuan from each
payment a migrant receives and they earn between 4,000 and 30,000
yuan a month in commissions.
Reports also said the sellers, who sell blood around 10 times a
month, have been given medicine that allowed them to sell blood
frequently.
The practice contravenes the law on the donation of blood. The
law, which was introduced in 1998, forbids donors to give blood
more than once every six months.
The department said that "to protect people's safety and health
and to ensure the safety of blood stocks", all the governments in
Guangdong must examine blood safety at collection points, hospitals
and clinics and strengthen supervision of blood collection.
(Xinhua News Agency April 8, 2007)