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Viewing cable 08GUANGZHOU206, Guangdong Illegal Blood Trading Ring Uncovered

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
08GUANGZHOU206 2008-04-03 09:18 2011-08-23 00:00 UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY Consulate Guangzhou
VZCZCXRO1969
RR RUEHCN RUEHGH RUEHVC
DE RUEHGZ #0206/01 0940918
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 030918Z APR 08
FM AMCONSUL GUANGZHOU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7029
INFO RUEHOO/CHINA POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC
RUEKJCS/DIA WASHDC
RUEAUSA/DEPT OF HHS WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 GUANGZHOU 000206 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/CM 
HHS PASS TO FIC/NIH 
BANGKOK FOR RMO, CDC, USAID 
BEIJING FOR HHS HEALTH ATTACHE AND RMO 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TBIO PGOV EAID SOCI CH
SUBJECT: Guangdong Illegal Blood Trading Ring Uncovered 
 
 
 (U) This document is sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
1. (U) Summary: Since 1998, when Guangzhou first officially 
permitted citizens to donate blood, authorities have attempted to 
combat the illegal trade of blood supplies amid fears of disease 
transmission, especially HIV/AIDS.  Recently, authorities have 
identified a string of cases in which Guangzhou Blood Center 
employees have aided patients in obtaining blood platelets from 
illegal trading rings for a fee. The trade can be highly profitable 
because platelet supplies are so low.  Local law enforcement and 
health authorities have created a joint task force to further 
investigate the illegal operations, and have made several arrests in 
the process. End summary. 
 
------------------------------- 
Corruption in Local Blood Banks 
------------------------------- 
 
2. (SBU) The regulation of blood centers remains an ongoing 
challenge in south China. In 2007 alone, local authorities 
reportedly shut down 4,915 blood banks amid allegations of faulty 
operations, including violations of established blood collecting 
regulations. Even more difficult to monitor is illegal blood trade 
operations that often involve blood center personnel. Despite 
continued campaigns prohibiting blood trading, including a 2005 
campaign launched by the national Ministry of Health, illegal 
operations have once again surfaced in Guangdong. Authorities have 
uncovered cases of dealers securing blood platelets from municipal 
blood centers, and selling the supply to ill patients in need of 
platelet transfusions. 
 
3. (SBU) Most recently, a security guard supervisor at the Guangzhou 
Blood Center, one of many employees allegedly working as middlemen 
in sales transactions. The mother of a leukemia patient turned him 
in after he offered to arrange a transfusion for her daughter. The 
patient had been unable to obtain a transfusion due to a shortage of 
platelets at the center. Out of desperation, her mother went to the 
center herself, only to be approached by the security guard who 
assured her that he could successfully find a donor in exchange for 
1,000 yuan (USD 140) per unit of platelets. 
 
4. (SBU) According to media reports, blood trade middlemen, like the 
security guard supervisor, are able to profit from these deals, 
usually earning RMB 1000 - 1200 (USD 143-170) per transaction. 
However, most of the revenue is collected by the ringleaders, who 
can earn estimated hundreds of thousands up to RMB 1 million per 
year (about USD 143,000). Often the deals involve additional actors, 
such as the informer, the organizer, and the blood seller, who each 
take a cut. If the blood type is rare, the illegal ring profits even 
more. 
 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
Purchasing Platelets: illegal solutions for low supply 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
5. (U) Obtaining a platelet transfusion which aids in the body's 
natural blood clotting process, is not easy in Guangdong due 
primarily to low supply levels. In 2007, approximately 300,000 
people donated whole blood, raising the Guangzhou Blood Center's 
supply to approximately 59 tons. Although this supply is nearly 
adequate to meet demand, the amount of blood platelets donated is 
not. Transfusion patients in Guangzhou need about 30,000 units of 
platelets annually, but the city has been unable to meet this goal. 
 
6. (SBU) The shortage of platelets is caused both by a lack of 
public awareness and the logistics of the donating procedure. In 
order to donate platelets, a donor must first undergo a 
comprehensive physical exam. In the procedure itself platelets are 
subtracted from the donated blood, and the rest of the blood is 
returned to the donor's body. Also, in the case of general blood 
donations, supplies have a shelf-life of two weeks; platelets can 
only be used up to five days after the initial donation. To address 
these problems, Fu Yongshui, Director of the Guangzhou Blood Center, 
told reporters that the Center plans to establish an additional 14 
blood platelet donation locations. 
 
---------------------- 
Catching the Criminals 
---------------------- 
 
7. (SBU) Fu also said that each year the Guangzhou Blood Center 
 
GUANGZHOU 00000206  002 OF 002 
 
 
purges security and cleaning staff to combat corruption, and 
requires platelet donors to supply fingerprints to ensure that 
donations are made at least four weeks apart. In some cases, people 
donate only to profit from the illegal trade. According to a media 
report, one man gave blood 16 times over a twelve-month period, with 
the expectation that he would profit from a potential customer.  In 
addition, local police authorities and the Guangdong Provincial 
Health Department have created a joint task force that is currently 
investigating the extent of the blood trade and the players 
involved. Thus far, several culprits, both employees of the blood 
center and members of the trading rings, have been identified and 
subsequently arrested. 
 
GOLDBERG