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April 15, 2015

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Home » Metro » Health and Science

Waiting time longer for organ transplants

By Cai Wenjun | April 15, 2015, Wednesday | Print Edition

THE organ shortage in Shanghai reached a crisis point with longer waiting time after China stopped transplanting organs harvested from executed prisoners early this year.

Currently, organs can only be donated by living relatives or by voluntary organ donors after death. Local hospitals said patients have to wait longer now to get an organ transplant even though the number of those donating organs has been rising in the city.

“Previously, a patient had to wait for five or six years for a transplant but now the waiting period was as long as 10 years,” said Zhu Tongyu, vice president of Zhongshan Hospital.

China struggles with organ donations because of long-held belief of keeping the whole body after death. There are also concerns over how they are allocated.

Approximately 300,000 patients need organ transplants in China every year, but only 10,000 get it. Officials from the Organ Donation Office at Shanghai Red Cross said 23 people have received organs in the first four months this year, which was higher than usual.

According to former health minister Huang Jiefu, China has the lowest organ donation rate in the world — 0.6 donors for every million citizens. In comparison, Spain has 37 for every million.

To regulate organ donations and help the nation reduce its dependence on executed prisoners, a national organ donation system run by the Red Cross Society of China was established in March 2010. A pilot scheme was in operation before it was adopted across the country in February 2013.

Provincial Red Cross branches are responsible for handling the donations in their regions. “It is a system that collects all the information of donated organs and of patients with organ failure. We try to do a match and ensure that the most qualified patients get the organs,” said Tang Zhaoxiang, a Red Cross official.

“The system is monitored by the National Health and Family Planning Commission and no one can change the information.”

However, the organs can only be used in the province where they are donated. Beijing and Shanghai do not have a high donation rate but has a large number of patients who come from all over the country for better medical options. The hospitals in the cities have no access to organs donated in other provinces.

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