Executed prisoners in China are being stripped of their kidneys, livers and hearts in a practice so widespread that two out of three transplant operations rely on organs removed from condemned criminals.

The China Daily newspaper, in a first public acknowledgement of the reliance on prisoners for body parts, said that 65 per cent of donations came from death row. Huang Jiefu, the country’s Deputy Health Minister, said that condemned prisoners were “definitely not a proper source for organ transplants”.

Despite a 2007 regulation barring trading in human tissue, demand for new organs far exceeds legitimate supply.

Only about 130 people have signed up to donate organs since 2003, according to research by Professor Chen Zhonghua at the Institute of Organ Transplantation, Tongji Hospital.

About one million Chinese need organ transplants each year but only 1 per cent receive one.

To meet demand an illegal trade in organs has boomed in a country that puts to death more convicted criminals than the rest of the world combined.

There has also been a surge in living donors. About 40 per cent of transplants are carried out with organs from living donors, up from 15 per cent in 2006, according to Professor Chen.

Qian Jianmin, chief transplant surgeon with the Shanghai Huashan Hospital, confirmed that patients were treated with organs from executed prisoners, and acknowledged that the system, which involves multiple government departments, was open to abuse.

Officially, death row prisoners are required to give their written consent for their organs to be removed after death. “Corruption can arise during the process," Mr Qian told the paper.

He added that some people simply ignored legal procedures to make a profit.

Illegal transplants from living donors, and tales of foreigners travelling to China for transplants, are frequently reported by media and the Ministry of Health.

Death row prisoners in China are usually executed by a bullet to the back of the head and ambulances wait at execution grounds for doctors to pronounce a prisoner dead. In some cases it is thought body parts are removed in these vehicles.

Launching a new service to encourage more legitimate donations, Mr Huang stressed the rights of prisoners and said: “Transplants should not be a privilege for the rich."

The new donation system, piloting in 10 provinces and cities, will encourage post-death donations and start a fund to provide financial aid to the needy and to donors' families.

China’s organ shortage has become more acute in the past 12 months. A ruling last year that all death sentences must be approved by the Supreme Court has sharply reduced the number of executions.

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