Organ donors may need identity check

Minister reveals proposal amid spike in requests to withdraw from register

Secretary for Health Lo Chungmau revealed yesterday that the authorities were considering requiring organ donors to verify their identity amid concerns over an abnormal spike in requests to withdraw from the Hong Kong’s centralised register.

Lo also urged residents to stop spreading “rumours and false claims” about the proposed cross-border transplant mechanism, which he reiterated would involve organs donated by Hongkongers to be used on the mainland only when there was no suitable local recipient.

“Our good intentions of creating a basic system where you can simply sign your name and register do not appear to have worked,” Lo said during a television interview. “We hope to guarantee that, whether residents have signed up or not, there will be more verification of their identity … this is something we can improve on in terms of a computer system.”

The minister said it was “quite depressing” that the donor registration system had to be improved in the first place, as it was a way for residents to show their love and respect for life.

“However, we are unlucky that a minority of people with ulterior motives want to destroy our organ donation system,” he said.

The Department of Health also announced yesterday it would launch a new feature for the register, allowing users of the “iAM Smart” electronic identification system to check their registration status.

Authorities last week revealed there was an unusual rise in the number of Hongkongers applying to withdraw from the registry since the government in December said it hoped to set up a cross-border donation system.

Health Bureau figures showed 5,785 withdrawal applications were sent between last December and April, with more than half involving people who had never signed up or made repeated attempts to withdraw.

There are currently more than 357,000 registered donors, up from 45,150 in 2009. The register was set up in 2008.

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu last week ordered police to investigate the withdrawals, while severely condemning those he said were “attempting to sabotage” the system.

Yesterday, Lo reiterated police would target those spreading false information that could have contributed to the wave of withdrawal requests. Among the rumours were that residents would be considered organ donors unless they applied to withdraw and that people would be sent to the mainland as living donors.

Vowing to press ahead with the proposal for a cross-border transplant mechanism, Lo said: “If we stop the discussions for a moment … it will be a major loss for our patients.”

When asked if authorities would consider an option for donors to opt out of the crossborder mechanism, he said they would not allow any preferences for donating or receiving organs to prevent conflicts of interest and discrimination.

He said the proposed mechanism would only be used in cases where a local recipient could not be found. “We will only activate the ‘second-tier’ cross-border organ transplant mechanism when there are no matches in Hong Kong for donated organs,” Lo said.

The city’s organ donation rate is among the lowest in the world, with just 29 people donating their organs after dying last year and 23 giving a kidney or part of their liver as living donors.

According to health authorities, patients in the queue for a kidney transplant needed to wait five years on average, with the longest one taking 29 years.

Those requiring heart, lung or liver transplants could expect a wait of two to three years.

On the other hand, more than 1,000 organs donated on the mainland last year could not be matched with suitable recipients.

Separately, Cheung Suk-man, an organ donation coordinator at Tuen Mun Hospital, said she had not yet encountered families of patients who refused to proceed with a donation because of the prospect of it being used for a cross-border transplant.

“I handled two cases this week, but in the end, the families did not mention any worries about cross-border donations – it could be because the public is still digesting the information,” she said.

Cheung added that families mostly refused to donate organs in cases where a death occurred suddenly and relatives were still grappling with the person’s passing.

Such cases could be complicated further by a lack of previously expressed wishes about organ donation by the patient.