Overcoming ancient taboos, organ donors give gift of life
Print Edition
DONATING organs for transplant surgeries used to be taboo for Chinese, who believed that reincarnation in the afterlife required intact body remains.
But those traditional attitudes are gradually changing as more people come to realize that donated organs can save lives.
Song Wei, a 34-year-old doctor at Changhai Hospital in Shanghai, died of a brain hemorrhage in mid-June. He stipulated before death that his liver, lungs, kidneys, corneas and skin tissue could be removed to help patients who needed transplants.
“He was a doctor who carried his devotion to saving lives beyond the grave,” Song’s wife said.
Indeed, his donations saved the lives of four people and helped another two see the world again.
News of Song’s selfless organ donations touched the hearts of the public, causing a surge in the numbers of registered volunteer organ donors in Shanghai. Within two weeks of Song’s death, 39 people signed up, compared with average registration of about one every two days.
Shanghai has come a long way since August 2013, when the first recorded voluntary organ donation and resulting transplant were made public.
There were only five transplants conducted that year. The number rose to 55 in 2014, 78 in 2015, and 63 in the first six months this year, according to Teng Guixiang, head of volunteer services at the Shanghai Red Cross. About 5,000 people are now signed up as voluntary organ donors.
Across China, 65,000 people have registered and 7,400 transplants have been conducted, according to the Shanghai Organ Donation and Transplant Forum held in July. In 2015, the number of donations and transplants grew by almost two-thirds from a year earlier to 2,766.
For years, executed prisoners were the primary source of organs for transplant, but the practice was banned in 2015. That means voluntary donations are imperative in life-saving transplants.
“The number of voluntary donations among Chinese mainland residents now tops in Asia and ranks third in the world,” Du Bing, a member of the National Health and Family-Planning Committee, told last month’s forum.
Yet there is still a huge gap between need and supply.
Every year, more than 300,000 Chinese need organ transplants, but few are lucky enough to get them.
For example, the ratio of supply and demand for livers in China is around one organ for every 35 cases pending. For kidneys, the ratio is around 1:40, according to the Shanghai Red Cross. The gap is probably greater in Shanghai, where many people come for medical treatment.
At Renji Hospital along, there are about 1,000 patients a year on the waiting list for kidney transplants. Average waiting time for the fortunate is at least three years.
Despite the growing number of people willing to donate organs, not all their “gifts” are actually used. Only certain causes of death make organs usable, and the organs must be healthy.
The collection and distribution of donated organs lies with Shanghai’s 17 city hospitals, which are authorized to perform transplants.
There are about 80 coordinators in the Shanghai branch of the China Organ Procurement Organization.
Their job is to identify possible organ sources among existing patients, a task helped somewhat by the educational benefits of online donation websites, says Chen Xiaosong, a surgeon at Renji Hospital and coordinator of the organ procurement program in Shanghai.
Among the successful organ donations from hospital sources, a third came from brain trauma patients, a third came from brain hemorrhage deaths and a third came from people who died from cardio-pulmonary causes.
“Generally, about two or three families of every 10 brain-dead patients will agree to meet with us, and about half of them consent to organ donation,” says Chen.
Though the rate of organ donations in Shanghai doesn’t match Western levels, there has been satisfactory progress, according to those involved in donations.
“The rapidly growing number of successful organ donations marks not only an improvement in voluntary donations but also a big change in traditional Chinese attitudes,” says Teng of the Shanghai Red Cross.
The families of those dying or dead are often the major hurdle to organ donation. Many are reluctant to honor the wishes of a donor once death has occurred, out of fear that removing organs before burial desecrates traditional beliefs.
“We need to respect the immediate family’s wishes,” says Teng. “There are cases when family members block the donation plans of loved ones, but I also have seen more cooperative families who see organ donation as a better way of cherishing their loved ones.”
Teng recalls the case of a mother who lost her 20-year-old daughter to a malignant brain tumor. The mother signed the donation agreement to honor her daughter’s final wishes.
Dr Song’s wife said she approved the removal of her dead husband’s organs not only out of respect for his wishes but also as a testament to their 1-year-old daughter.
“I will tell my daughter that her father is still living in this world though in different places and in different ways, rather than tying her hopes to an uncertain heavenly place,” the wife said.
Teng says the practice of linking organ donation to sacrifice for the good of others may not be the best way to encourage donations.
“These families show us that they view donation as more than just a selfless, merciful act,” Teng says. “It is also a way to express their love and honor the memories of the deceased by thinking of them living on somewhere else in the world.”
People wishing to sign up for organ donation can visit the national registration website at www.safelife.org.cn or the Shanghai Red Cross website at www.redcross-sha.org.
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