ABC: CHINESE USING PRISONER ORGANS FOR TRANSPLANTS.

Byline: Associated Press

Chinese military hospitals are using kidneys and other organs from executed criminals to perform transplants for foreigners willing to pay as much as $30,000, ABC-TV reported Wednesday.

Working undercover, producers from ABC's ``PrimeTime Live'' met with a Chinese doctor in New York City who said he already had arranged for several transplants to Americans. He told the producers a new batch of kidneys would soon be available.

Captured on a hidden camera, the doctor asks for part of the $30,000 payment in advance.

A Chinese newspaper published in New York advertises ``kidney transplant in mainland China. Don't miss the opportunity,'' ABC said.

ABC also interviewed Apple Yoonuch, a woman from Bangkok who said she underwent a transplant at the Nanfung Military Hospital in China.

``Third of January, the doctor called me that there will be an execution,'' she said. ``It means that prisoners, some prisoners, are going to be shot dead. So I have to come over and prepare myself to get the operation, kidney operation.''

A press spokesman was unavailable at the Chinese Embassy in Washington on Wednesday, according to a phone message. An embassy statement issued to ABC said the organs of executed criminals are used in transplants rarely and only with the consent of the prisoners or their families.