Students sell ova in black market

Students sell ova in black market

Ova traders negotiate through agencies at a caf in Beijing

Female undergraduates in China have been found to be selling their ova through black market traders.

The agencies, operating in Beijing, targeted students from famous universities and pay tens of thousands of yuan for an ova, Beijing News reported.

They usually arrange for potential buyers to meet the girls at cafes, but both parties were not allowed to talk to each other.

As observed by reporters from the daily, a group of more than 10 young girls were scheduled to meet with the buyers at a caf last month.

Clients - most of whom are couples - sat not far away from the girls. They stared at each girl carefully.

They could not talk directly, but the agents would convey information on the girls' height, blood type, hobbies and others.

Li Qing (not her real name), 20, underwent an ovum "donation" operation in early 2010.

After a physical examination, she was injected with medicine that speeds up the formation of ova, she said.

"One needle per day for eight consecutive days."

After that she had to undergo an operation to harvest the ova, which would then be fertilised with sperm in a test tube before it was put into a female client or surrogate, said an anonymous staff member of the agency.

"This is forbidden in regular hospitals, so it is often done in private or foreign hospitals," he added.

A document from an agency showed that an ovum provider usually gets 40,000 to 80,000 yuan (RM19,860 to RM39,720) while another 10,000 yuan (RM4,965) would be paid to the hospital and the agency received 8,000 yuan (RM3,972).
Source: China Daily

Images: CFP

Published Nov 15, 2011!