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The Ministry of Health is investigating organ transplants performed on 17 Japanese in China, vowing to punish the doctors and medical institutions responsible, an official said yesterday.

In a statement on the ministry's website, Deputy Minister Huang Jiefu said the country had banned the trade of human organs since May 2007.

China prohibits transplants for foreigners, because there is an organ shortage in the country. There are only about 10,000 donors for the more than 1 million Chinese who need transplants annually, Huang added.

Japan's Kyoto News reported earlier that the 17 Japanese patients each spent about 595,000 yuan ($87,000) for the operations at an unidentified hospital in Guangzhou, capital of Guangdong province.

Most of the patients were aged between 50 and 65, and received kidney or liver transplants, the report said.

Huang said the government plans to develop a national system regulating organ transplants, beginning with a registration scheme.

All facilities that perform transplants will be required to come under the system, he said.

Since 2007, the ministry had licensed more than 160 medical institutions to do organ transplants.

A kidney and liver transplant registration system had been established, with work underway on one for hearts and lungs.

The ministry will work with the Red Cross to launch a pilot scheme on organ donations in some parts of China, Huang said.

China is host to the second largest number of transplants after the United States, with about 5,000 operations performed in the country annually.

Questions:

1. When was the trade of human organs banned in China?

2. How many Chinese need organ transplants annually?

3. What country performs the largest number of organ transplant operations?

Answers:

1. May 2007.

2. More than 1 million.

3. The United States.

（英语点津 Helen 编辑）

About the broadcaster:

Nancy Matos is a foreign expert at China Daily Website. Born and raised in Vancouver, Canada, Nancy is a graduate of the Broadcast Journalism and Media program at the British Columbia Institute of Technology. Her journalism career in broadcast and print has taken her around the world from New York to Portugal and now Beijing. Nancy is happy to make the move to China and join the China Daily team.