China is suffering a serious shortage of human organ donations,
a senior health official said yesterday in Guangzhou, the capital
of south China's Guangdong Province.
"There are about 1.5 million people in China who need
transplants each year but only around 10,000 operations can be
carried out due to shortages," Huang Jiefu, vice minister of
health, told a conference on the management of organ
transplants.
China, like other countries, was faced with a huge gap between
patients who need organ transplants and limited organ donations,
Huang said.
The main cause of the shortage is that many Chinese are not
willing to donate their organs after death because of traditional
rituals and beliefs. There's also no clear guidance for the public
on what to do if they wish to donate organs. This can lead to those
willing to donate being unable to do so.
The absence of laws concerning organ transplants and irregular
transplant procedures in some medical institutions have blocked the
promotion of organ transplants in China, Huang noted.
China performs the second most organ transplant operations in
the world every year and its technology is improving with a longer
survival rate for patients who've had surgery, said Huang.
The Ministry of Health banned the sale of human organs on July
1, and has completed drafting China's human organ transplant
regulation. The document is now undergoing revision and will be
promulgated shortly.
Huang called for the establishment of an information network
that registers and keeps track of every human organ donation. He
also said the promotion of organ donations among the public would
increase the number of donors.
Huang noted that advertisements aimed at attracting foreign
patients disguised as tourists to receive transplant operations in
China were strictly banned.
(Xinhua News Agency November 15, 2006)