Parents' horror as Chinese boy, 6, has his eyes GOUGED OUT after being 'kidnapped by organ trafficker who stole both his corneas'

Organ traffickers gouged out the eyes of a six-year-old boy to sell on China’s transplant black market, it was claimed yesterday.

Police said the child, Binbin, was drugged after being kidnapped while playing outside his home.

His family found him covered in blood and crying in pain three to four hours later. His eyes were found nearby with the corneas missing, police say, implying that an organ trafficker was behind the attack.

Horrific: A Chinese boy lies in hospital after he had his eyes gouged out reportedly by an organ trafficker

Recovering: The youngster was playing alone outside his home in Linfen, Shanxi Province, when he was allegedly snatched on Monday evening
 
An entire eye cannot be transplanted, but a cornea could be vital for a patient with faltering vision.

Police are seeking a woman suspect and have offered £10,500 for information leading to an arrest.

Binbin’s devastated father said: ‘We didn’t notice his eyes were gone when we discovered him – he had blood all over his face. We thought he had fallen down and smashed his face.’

The boy was rushed to hospital where doctors were shocked to find his eyes had been removed. His father said: ‘His eyelids were turned inside out, and his eyeballs were not there.’

Illegal organ harvesting is booming in China, where there is a shortage of donors, and last night, amid domestic and international outrage, Beijing was urged to crack down on the country’s multi-million-pound transplant industry.

Binbin was shown on state TV being taken in bandages from an operating theatre to a hospital bed, writhing in agony as his shocked family wept.

China Central Television said he had been drugged and ‘lost consciousness’ before the attacker removed his eyes.

His parents discovered he was missing when they called for him to come in around 8pm on Monday but received no response.

Mortified: Relatives of the youngster talk to a nurse. His parents realised he was missing when they tried to call hm inside the house but received response

'Extraordinarily vicious': The child's eyes were found nearby but the corneas were missing, reports said, implying that an organ trafficker was behind the harrowing attack

After a frantic search with relatives, they found him screaming in a field near their home in Fenxi, north China. The kidnapper had reportedly told Binbin: ‘Don’t cry and I won’t gouge out your eyes.’

China does not have a donor culture, but about 300,000 patients need transplants each year. Only about 10,000 receive organs, mainly taken from death-row prisoners.

Though the sale and transplant of organs for money is prohibited, lax laws and widespread corruption have fuelled a booming industry.

China is also a leading destination for ‘transplant tourists’ who travel there to obtain organs.

Last night international doctors appalled by Binbin’s suffering called on leading medical journals to ban publication of Chinese research papers on organ transplants, to shame the country into tackling the problem.

Professor Arthur Caplan, head of medical ethics at New York University and spokesman for Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting, said: ‘As unimaginable and untrue as this boy’s torment sounds, it shocks but does not surprise.

‘Whereas hearts, livers and kidneys must be sourced from donors who match the same blood and body type of recipient patients, in-demand corneas for corrective eyesight operations can be taken from any age and body type.

‘Anyone who knows where the corneas are located in the eye can extract them, and I fear for the unsterile conditions and the barbaric methods used, and that infection may add to the boy’s suffering.

‘He will suffer unthinkable physical and psychological pain.’

Professor Caplan urged international governments to ‘stand up to China’ and take action to make it clean up its transplant industry.

‘Transplant tourists who travel to China with the right amount of money can order the organ needed,’ he said. ‘A prisoner is found to match the recipient and is taken out and shot.’

Last weekend, Chinese police detained members of a kidney- trafficking ring, including a team of four doctors and nurses.

WHY DID THEY TAKE THE CORNEAS?

The organ trafficker may have been motivated by money.

But they could also have been driven to such a horrific crime by the hope of saving someone's sight - or even their own.

Problems with the cornea - the clear front part of the eye - can cause the eye to mist up and, if left untreated, lead to blindness.

But the most serious conditions such as Fuchs' dystrophy, a degenerative condition that affects older people, can be cured with a transplant, above (file picture).

Until recent years, the only operation was a full cornea transplant, an operation that involved 24 stitches in each eye and an 18-month recovery period.

But advances in technology have meant surgeons can now carry out a partial replacement under local anaesthetic with a recovery time of just four weeks.

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