Staff involved in blood scam

GUANGZHOU: Several employees of the municipal blood center in Guangzhou have been caught scheming with illegal blood dealers to sell platelets to seriously sick people in need of transfusions, local news sources said.

The Guangdong provincial health department and the local police department have formed a team to investigate the case, but the ringleader of the group remains at large, Liao Xinbo, the health department's vice-director, said yesterday.

The Guangzhou-based New Express Daily reported that a security guard working at the blood center was involved in illegal blood sales and maintained ties with underground dealers.