3 hospitals rapped for transplants

Three hospitals have been punished this year for carrying out illegal organ transplants for foreigners, Vice-Minister of Health Huang Jiefu has said.

The hospitals in Beijing, Tianjin and the Xinjiang autonomous region have been suspended from performing all transplants for a year, Hong Kong-based Ta Kung Pao newspaper reported yesterday.

If the hospitals are found with new violations, their licenses to perform organ transplants and those of their doctors to carry out the surgeries will be revoked, Huang said at a national organ transplant conference in Beijing.