Incriminating Phone Calls: Doctors Admit to Live Harvesting of Falun Gong Adherents’ Organs in China

Incriminating Phone Calls: Doctors Admit to Live Harvesting of Falun Gong Adherents’ Organs in China
Doctors performing an organ transplant in China as seen in the film “Harvested Alive: 10 Years of Investigations.” (Screenshot/"Harvested Alive: 10 Years of Investigations")
Joan Delaney
4/5/2019
Updated:
6/18/2019

When investigators in Canada began looking into allegations of forced organ harvesting on a mass scale in China, one of the ways they gathered information was making phone calls to the hospitals involved posing as patients needing an organ.

It was back in 2006 that former secretary of state David Kilgour and human rights lawyer David Matas uncovered evidence that Falun Gong prisoners of conscience were being killed on demand to supply China’s organ transplant industry.

Their subsequent report, titled “Bloody Harvest: The Killing of Falun Gong for Their Organs,” concluded that imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners were indeed being used to service a lucrative and burgeoning transplant industry.

One of the many methods the researchers used in their investigation was to call the hospitals in China where organ harvesting takes place and speak to medical professionals, assuming the identity of a transplant patient or the relative of someone in need of an organ. In many cases, those they spoke to admitted that they were sourcing organs for transplant from Falun Gong practitioners.

The following is a transcript of some of the recorded calls (translated from Mandarin) documented in the 2006 and 2016 reports as well as from the China Organ Harvest Research Center.

‘This Thing is Just Like A Supply Line’

Zhongshan Hospital Organ Transplant Clinic, Shanghai, March 16, 2006:
Investigator: So how long do I have to wait [for organ transplant surgery]?
 Doctor: About a week after you come
Investigator: Is there the kind of organs that come from Falun Gong? I heard that they are very good.
Doctor: All of ours are those types.

Chen Qiang, a kidney source liaison at the People’s Liberation Army Hospital No. 307 in Fengtai, Beijing, April 10, 2007:

Investigator: By the way, how can you be so sure [the source] will be a Falun Gong practitioner? Can you find out for sure?
Chen: How to identify a Falun Gong practitioner? Well, when the time comes, then our side, our boss will have people showing you information. You can be sure. We have connections with government officials. There are connections to high-ranking officials. I will show you such material even if you don’t ask me for it.
Investigator: You know that several years ago, they secretly detained many Falun Gong practitioners who went to appeal but did not provide their names. There were no records, no registrations.
Chen: Yes, this is quite normal. If Falun Gong practitioners did not give their names, they would be given a code. If their names couldn’t be identified, there would be their code numbers. Also, one can be tracked by fingerprints. … Like our boss, like the connections to the detention centers, I cannot say casually. We have close relationships with them. Since we are engaging in this business, we have our people in each and every department. How can you get things done if we don’t have our connections? This thing is just like a supply line, you know?
Chinese doctors carry fresh organs for transplant at a hospital in Henan Province on Aug. 16, 2012. (Screenshot/Sohu.com)
Chinese doctors carry fresh organs for transplant at a hospital in Henan Province on Aug. 16, 2012. (Screenshot/Sohu.com)
Chief Physician Xu, Air Force Hospital of Chendu City, April 29, 2006:
Investigator: The patient emphasizes that he wants the organ of the young and healthy. The best is from those who practice Falun Gong. Will he have this kind of chance?
Xu: Yes.
Investigator: Yes ?
Xu: He will have this opportunity.
Investigator: It should be from the young and healthy, who practice Falun Gong!
Xu: No Problem.
Director Song, Oriental Organ Transplant Center, Tianjin City, March 15, 2006:
Investigator: Her doctor told her that the kidney is quite good because [the supplier] practises Falun Gong.
Song: Of course. We have all those who breathe and with a heartbeat. … Up until now, for this year, we have had more than ten kidneys, more than ten such kidneys.
Investigator: More than ten of this kind of kidneys? You mean live bodies?
Song: Yes, it is so.

Shanghai Ruijin Hospital, Oct. 25, 2006:

Investigator: Do you use live kidneys [for transplant]?
Doctor: Yes.
Investigator: Well, we have a relative in Shenyang, he said that it seemed that there were fairly larger numbers of kidneys used over there and they were better in quality. He refers to that kind from Falun Gong, right? Do you use this kind as well.
Doctor: Yes.
Investigator: Wow, you use that kind as well.
Doctor: Every hospital is the same.
Official at the Wuhan City Tongji Hospital, March 2006:
Investigator: We hope the kidney suppliers are alive. We’re looking for live organ transplants from prisoners, for example, using living bodies from prisoners who practise Falun Gong. Is it possible?
Official: It’s not a problem.
A young Falun Dafa adherent holds a sign asking for China to stop killing prisoners of conscience for their organs in a parade in Washington on July 20, 2017. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times)
A young Falun Dafa adherent holds a sign asking for China to stop killing prisoners of conscience for their organs in a parade in Washington on July 20, 2017. (Benjamin Chasteen/The Epoch Times)
Dr. Li, Mishan City Detention Centre, Heilongjiang Province, June 8, 2006:
Investigator: Do you have Falun Gong [organ] suppliers?
Dr. Li: We used to have, yes.
Investigator: What about now?
Dr. Li: Yes.
Investigator: How many [Falun Gong suppliers] under age 40 do you have?
Dr. Li: Quite a few.
Investigator: Are they male or female?
Dr. Li: Male.
Investigator: What about the price?
Dr. Li: We’ll discuss after you come.
Qianfoshan City Liver Transplant Hospital, Shandong Province, March 16, 2006:
Investigator: The supply of livers … the ones from Falun Gong, I want to ask if you have those types?
Doctor: It is okay if you come here.
Investigator: So that means you have them?
Doctor: In April, there will be more of these kinds of suppliers … now, gradually, we have more and more.”
Investigator: Why will there be more in April?
Doctor: This I can’t explain to you.

Shen Zhenya, director of the Cardiovascular Surgery Department, First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, said in answer to an inquiry about the availability of organs in May 2014:

Shen: We have [organ transplants] every month. Once you come, I think you should be able to find an organ donor in a little over two weeks. The donors who practice Falun Gong ... we have too.
Dr. Cui, Ren De Hospital, Weifang City, Shandong Province (date unknown):
Dr. Cui: Don’t underestimate this small hospital. We dedicate ourselves to specializing in this [organ transplantation]. I believe we have the largest source of kidneys in Shandong Province and perform the most [transplants]. We obtain our kidneys from sources throughout the country. The kidneys leave the [donor’s] body in less than 24 hours. The quality is absolutely assured. Our hospital president obtains the [kidneys] himself and performs the surgeries personally.
"Organ Crimes," an oil painting by Xiqiang Dong depicting the seizure of organs from a living Falun Dafa practitioner in China. (Courtesy of Xiqiang Dong)
"Organ Crimes," an oil painting by Xiqiang Dong depicting the seizure of organs from a living Falun Dafa practitioner in China. (Courtesy of Xiqiang Dong)
Report excerpts with more admissions:

A doctor at Shanghai’s Zhongshan hospital in mid-March of 2006 said that all of his organs come from Falun Gong practitioners. A doctor at Qianfoshan hospital in Shandong in March implied that he then had organs from Falun Gong practitioners and added that in April there would be “more of these kinds of bodies.”

In May, Dr. Lu of the Minzu hospital in Nanning city said organs from Falun Gong practitioners were not available at his institution and suggested the caller call Guangzhou to get them. He also admitted that he earlier went to prisons to select healthy Falun Gong persons in their 30s to provide their organs.

In mid-March of 2006, Dr. Wang of Zhengzhou Medical University in Henan province agreed that “we pick all the young and healthy kidneys.”

Dr. Zhu of the Guangzhou Military region hospital in April of 2006 said he then had some type B kidneys from Falun Gong, but would have “several batches” before May 1 and perhaps no more until May 20 or later.

In early June, 2006, an official at the Mishan city detention center told a telephone caller that the center then had at least five or six male Falun Gong prisoners under 40 years of age available as organ suppliers.

An official at the first detention centre in Qinhuangdao city in Liaoning province told a caller in mid-May 2006 that she should call the Intermediate People’s court to obtain Falun Gong kidneys. The same day, an official at that court said they had no Falun Gong live kidneys, but had had them in the past, specifically in 2001. Finally, the First Criminal Bureau of the Jinzhou people’s court in May of 2006 told the caller that access to Falun Gong kidneys currently depended on “qualifications.”

Caller M. called about 80 some hospitals. When calling hospitals in some cases, M. asked for specific doctors in the called hospitals, and was able to speak to transplant doctors. Ten hospitals admitted they use Falun Gong practitioners as organ suppliers. M. also called back to talk to the doctors. Five hospitals said they can obtain Falun Gong practitioners as organ suppliers. Fourteen hospitals admitted they use live organs from prisoners. Ten hospitals said the source of organs is a secret and they could not reveal it over the phone.

Caller N. made calls to close to 40 hospitals in China, out of which 5 admitted to using Falun Gong practitioner organs. N also called back to talk to the doctors who made these admissions. They were still reachable at the hospitals. N. also made calls to 36 various detention centers and the Courts in China, out of which 4 admitted to using Falun Gong practitioner organs.