Surge in transplant operations

Country now third globally in organ donations

A panel of international and domestic experts praised China’s progress in organ donation and transplant surgery, as the number of people choosing to donate organs has surged since last year.

In the first half of 2016, there were 1,795 organ donations, up 45 percent compared to the same period in 2015, Wang Haibo, head of the China Organ Transplant Response System, told the 26th International Congress of the Transplantation Society (TTS) in Hong Kong Thursday.

“At present, China’s annual average number of organ donation ranks first in Asia and third in the world,” said Wang. He noted that there were 2,766 organ donations cases in China last year, which exceeded the total number of 2013 and 2014.

In the UK, there were 4,433 transplants in the year to April 2015, according to the UK parliament website.

The TTS is pleased to see the progress that China has made in the cessation of use of organs from executed prisoners after a decade of reform, and they will continue to support the Chinese people who need organ transplantation, TTS President Philip O’Connell was quoted as saying by the Xinhua News Agency.

Jose Nunez, a WHO officer for global organ transplantation, said that he is impressed with the changes so far, the progress and the determination, not only from professionals but also from authorities to build transplantation reform.

Huang Jiefu, head of the National Human Organ Donation and Transplant Committee and former vice health minister, also denounced rumors saying China harvests about 60,000 to 100,000 organs from living people every year, saying it was ridiculous, the Hong Kong-based daily Ta Kung Pao reported.

“The Chinese government’s attitudes toward organ transplantation are consistent and clear,” said Li Bin, head of the National Health and Family Planning Commission. She added that China aims to develop organ transplantation in a legal and legitimate way.

“The Chinese government has attached great attention to organ donation and has made huge efforts, but these efforts have been smeared by groundless reports saying China is still harvesting organs from executed prisoners,” Chen Jingyu, deputy head of the Wuxi People’s Hospital in East China’s Jiangsu Province, told the Global Times on Friday.

China is sophisticated in transplant surgeries, but there is still a shortage of donor organs, Jiang Jianwen, a transplantation expert at the First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, told the Global Times.

Some 300,000 patients need transplants each year. Only around 10,000 received such operations.