Three blood collection stations were punished for illegal operation, the Chinese Health Ministry announced here Wednesday.

The three, a local blood station of Xupu County in Hunan Province, a blood center of Chongqing Municipality and a plasma collection station of Deqing County in Guangdong Province, were found to be loosely managed and guilty of other illegal operations including cross-regional blood collecting, the ministry said.

The ministry said the Xupu station in Hunan Province and the Deqing station in Guangdong Province have been closed by local health authorities and the heads of stations were removed from their posts.

The Chongqing blood center, whose problems were less serious, was fined 50,000 yuan (about US$6,046) and people in charge received administrative discipline.

In addition, the ministry said a joint teleconference will be hosted on Thursday by the Health Ministry, the Ministry of Public Security and the State Food and Drug Administration in a nationwide campaign to strike illegal blood collection.

In the mid-1990s, illegal blood collection caused the spread of AIDS among rural residents in some localities of central China.

Since 1995, China promulgated a series of laws and regulations to secure blood safety and so far HIV testing has been adopted at blood stations across the nation.

(Xinhua News Agency May 27, 2004)