Five people have been charged with intentional injury to a Chinese teenager who was so desperate to buy an iPad and iPhone that he sold his kidney for just over £2,000.
The accused, from southern China, include a surgeon who removed a kidney from a 17-year-old boy in return for around 220,000 yuan - just over £20,000.
Prosecutors in Chenzhou city, Hunan province, said one of the defendants received the money to arrange the transplant. He paid the teenager, identified only as Wang, 22,000 yuan - just over £2,000 - and split the rest with the surgeon, the three other defendants and other medical staff.
The teenager, identified only by his surname Wang, comes from Anhui, one of China's poorest provinces, where inhabitants frequently leave to find work and a better life elsewhere.
He now suffers from renal deficiency, according to the government-run Xinhua News Agency.
Following the surgery in April last year, Wang bought an iPhone and iPad.
When his mother quizzed him on how he funded the sought-after goods, he admitted selling a kidney.
It is not known who received and paid for the kidney.
The organ industry in China is booming and trading organs is a widespread online practice in the country.
Black market trade: A surgeon removed the kidney with medical staff for more than £20,000
Official statistics show that more than a million people in China need a transplant every year, but less than ten per cent receive them, driving a lucrative black market trade.
Few Chinese agree to donate their organs after death, fuelling the rampant trade in illegal market activity.
Apple products are hugely popular in China, but are priced beyond the reach of many Chinese. IPhones start at 3,988 yuan (£400), and iPads begin at 2,988 yuan - just under £190.
Wang's renal deficiency is deteriorating, Xinhua quoted prosecutors as saying.
Only a fraction of the people who need organ transplants in China are able to get them, leading to 'transplant tourism' where patients travel overseas for such operations, and to a black market for human organs.
China banned the trading of human organs in 2007 and have introduced a voluntary donor scheme to combat the trade.
Several other suspects involved in the case are still being investigated.
The accused, from southern China, include a surgeon who removed a kidney from a 17-year-old boy in return for around 220,000 yuan - just over £20,000.
Prosecutors in Chenzhou city, Hunan province, said one of the defendants received the money to arrange the transplant. He paid the teenager, identified only as Wang, 22,000 yuan - just over £2,000 - and split the rest with the surgeon, the three other defendants and other medical staff.
The teenager, identified only by his surname Wang, comes from Anhui, one of China's poorest provinces, where inhabitants frequently leave to find work and a better life elsewhere.
He now suffers from renal deficiency, according to the government-run Xinhua News Agency.
Following the surgery in April last year, Wang bought an iPhone and iPad.
When his mother quizzed him on how he funded the sought-after goods, he admitted selling a kidney.
It is not known who received and paid for the kidney.
The organ industry in China is booming and trading organs is a widespread online practice in the country.
Black market trade: A surgeon removed the kidney with medical staff for more than £20,000
Official statistics show that more than a million people in China need a transplant every year, but less than ten per cent receive them, driving a lucrative black market trade.
Few Chinese agree to donate their organs after death, fuelling the rampant trade in illegal market activity.
Apple products are hugely popular in China, but are priced beyond the reach of many Chinese. IPhones start at 3,988 yuan (£400), and iPads begin at 2,988 yuan - just under £190.
Wang's renal deficiency is deteriorating, Xinhua quoted prosecutors as saying.
Only a fraction of the people who need organ transplants in China are able to get them, leading to 'transplant tourism' where patients travel overseas for such operations, and to a black market for human organs.
China banned the trading of human organs in 2007 and have introduced a voluntary donor scheme to combat the trade.
Several other suspects involved in the case are still being investigated.
