China Death Van – Photo of the death van used in China to carry out high-tech executions of criminals so their organs can be harvested for sale.

The mobile China death van was used last year to carry out more than 1,700 executions with little fuss inside a vehicle that has been specially developed to make executions more cost-effective and efficient.

Inside each ‘death van’ there is a dedicated team of doctors there to ‘harvest’ the organs of the deceased. The doctors administer three drugs: sodium thiopental to cause unconsciousness; pancuronium bromide to stop breathing and, finally, potassium chloride to stop the heart. The injections leave the body intact and in pristine condition for such lucrative work.

After checking that the victim is dead, the medical team first remove the eyes. Then, wearing surgical gowns and masks, they remove the kidney, liver, pancreas and lungs.

Little goes to waste, though the heart cannot be used, having been poisoned by the drugs.

The organs are dispatched in ice boxes to hospitals in the sprawling cities of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, which have developed another specialist trade: selling the harvested organs.

At clinics all over China, these organs are transplanted into the ailing bodies of the wealthy – and thousands more who come as ‘organ tourists’ from neighbouring countries such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Taiwan.

Chinese hospitals perform up to 20,000 organ transplants each year. A kidney transplant in China costs $10,000, but can rise to $50,000 if the patient is willing to pay more to obtain an organ quickly.
While there are more than 10,000 kidney transplants carried out each year, fewer than 300 come from voluntary donations. Amnesty International have condemned China for harvesting prisoners’ organs.

“Organs can be extracted in a speedier and more effective way using these vans than if the prisoner is shot,” says Amnesty International. “We have gathered strong evidence suggesting the involvement of Chinese police, courts and hospitals in the organ trade.”

And that’s the latest news on the China Death Van.

Tags: china, china death van, death van, execution, organ harvesting, transplant

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