A total of 15 people, including several doctors, have been imprisoned for trading 51 human kidneys in 2010, netting more than 10 million yuan (US$1.6 million) in the process.

The group, headed by 46-year-old Anhui Province native Zheng Wei, identified donors via the Internet, then hired doctors to remove their kidneys at a clinic in Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province, Beijing Times reported yesterday.

Zheng had made contact with a doctor surnamed Ye, who was head of the urology department of a hospital in Beijing, at the end of 2009.

Ye told Zheng that he was worried about the lack of kidney transplant operations being carried out in the hospital, which could result in being no longer allowed to do them, the report said.

After agreeing with Ye to look for patients and donors, Zheng began advertising himself as a member of the hospital’s organ transplant team.

Later, he met Dr Zhou Peng in Xiaoxian County of Anhui Province, and offered to pay him 25,000 yuan for each kidney removal operation he undertook.

Zhou then helped Zheng to find three other doctors in Xuzhou who were willing to do the operations. These were Zhao Jian from Xuzhou Maternal and Child Care Center, and Yang Jian and Zhao Hui from Tongshan County No. 2 People’s Hospital, the report said.

Under the direction of Zheng, Zhou rented Huahuo Community Health Service Center in Xuzhou as the base for the illegal operations. Between April and August 2010, more than 20 kidneys were removed from donors, with the doctors paid between 1,700 and 2,500 yuan for each operation.

Zheng hired a Xuzhou native to take charge of post-operative care for the donors, who were each paid between 20,000 and 30,000 yuan for their organs.

After the kidneys were removed they were transported to Beijing, the report said.

Zheng rented a building in Beijing’s Haidian District to serve as a clinic and residence for people waiting to receive the kidneys. He also hired several nurses and equipped it with the necessary medical equipment.

A total of 22 operations were carried out in the building between September and December 2010, the report said.

Zheng charged recipients of the kidneys between 180,000 and 220,000 yuan.

In his defense, Ye said his work with Zheng had been approved by his hospital and that the only payment taken was the basic 80,000 to 100,000 yuan for a transplant procedure.

Zheng and his associates were tried at the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate People’s Court, which heard they made 10.3 million yuan profit from the illegal trade.

Zheng was sentenced on Wednesday to 12 years in prison, while his associates were given sentences of between 3.5 and nine years, the report said.

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