A quality control center for liver transplants was set up
recently at the Shanghai health bureau.
A regulation by the Ministry of Health on human organ
transplants also took effect this month.
The ministry will soon publish a list of medical institutions
qualified to carry out organ transplant operations. Hospitals not
on the list will be forbidden to conduct such procedures.
Seven hospitals in Shanghai have applied for qualification.
The new control center will oversee all liver transplants. A
committee has been formed consisting of medical experts. The
committee will set standard requirements for liver transplants,
including indications, medication after surgery, and long-term
disease management.
Renji Hospital, of the seven applicants, has launched a plan to
encourage "living donors" especially families who can save the life
of a loved one.
"Transplants from living donors boosts the quality of the liver
supply, and decreases the death rate of patients during the waiting
period," said Xia Qiang, director of the liver transplant center at
Renji Hospital.
The hospital, the first in China to undertake liver transplants,
is also conducting research into living donor liver
transplants.
According to Shen Bo, deputy director of the transplant center
at Ruijin Hospital, the number of liver transplant operations last
year in China was second only to the United States.
"The regulations have come at an opportune time. They follow
medical rules recognized all over the world, and instructions by
the WHO on human organ transplants.
"They will help China's medical practitioners gain international
recognition in the industry," Shen said.
Ruijin's organ transplant center was founded in 2002, and since
then about 300 operations have been conducted, nine of which were
liver transplants from living donors. The hospital has an ethics
committee on the management of organ transplants.
Before each operation an evaluation of the patient and donor's
physical and mental health is done, and other related issues
discussed.
(China Daily May 24, 2007)