Scores injured as men stampede to donate sperm

 The company promised to pay handsomely per pop     Photo: Courtesy

There was a spectacle to behold at Chinese wank-bank after cash-strapped local men stampeded with others sustaining injuries in a bid to donate sperm, local media reported.

The laboratory had not put in place proper logistics when they announced that they had extended their services to include sperm donation.

The company promised to pay handsomely per pop, much to the excitement of cash-strapped local, thus attracting close to 20,000 men on the first day.

The sperm bank initiative comes as some provinces have faced a shortage of donations. However, due to concerns over safety and ethics, authorities now only allow men in the country to donate sperm once in a life time.

However, this is not the first time such a tragedy has hit China. Last year, Daily Mail reported that a man died at sperm bank after his fourth sperm donation in 10 days!

The marathon masturbator, Zheng Gang, was found slumped over and unconscious in a private booth at the Wuhan University facility in Hubei Province after staff noticed he hadn’t come out in two hours.

When the medics broke down the door, they discovered the 23-year-old lying on the floor and immediately tried to resuscitate him. Doctors ultimately pronounced him dead of a heart attack.

Gang’s family took the sperm bank to court because his relatives felt the clinic was responsible for his death. They demanded to be paid $648,545 (Ksh 65k) in compensation and claimed that the clinic had forced him to sign up.

They also said the clinic pressured the young man into making frequent donations and alleged the medical staff did not properly handle the situation once they discovered him unconscious.

Masturbatory frenzy

But a court has now ruled that his demise was entirely his fault because he was capable of making his own decisions — including going on a masturbatory frenzy.

Gang was studying to become a doctor at Wuhan. He joined the sperm bank programme a year later and was known to be a regular advocate for the facility – sometimes even encouraging others to make their own donations.

It has also emerged that illicit fertility clinics in the country now target smart students, The Shangaist reported. Apparently, illegal human fertilisation agencies in China are expanding their services to bright and beautiful students in universities.

At a surrogacy agency in Shanghai, a woman surnamed Zhang in the customer-service department said they are looking for girls to donate eggs, and that donors will receive Sh11,3571.

“Egg donation is not harmful to health, and donors are helping couples who cannot have their own baby for some reason. It is a win-win cooperation,” she told local media. “The health check and egg collection will be done in public hospitals.”

Enforcement of prohibitions against such activities arises only if a case leads to a dispute. According to Zhang, most clients require donors who are taller than 160 centimetres and prefer light skin. “Donors’ information is collected confidentially,” she added.

Egg donations

Although Zhang claimed the agency has three years’ experience of surrogacy services as well as egg and sperm donation, and even has its own clinics, it does not guarantee donors’ safety.

Additionally, donors?who do not sign a contract-have no grounds for complaint if anything goes wrong.

In Beijing, a black market for collecting eggs from female students in renowned universities also exists. Agencies post advertisements on the street or on the online bulletin board systems of universities.

Online messenger is the main communication tool between agencies and donors. Clients usually ask to meet the donors before the egg donation. If donations are done on the black market, donors have no legal protection.

The National Health and Family Planning Commission in the country released a regulation in 2006 that only allows women who are to have in vitro fertilization themselves to donate redundant eggs.

Under Chinese law, eggs from one donor can be provided to a maximum of five married women; single women are not eligible.