China sees rapid increase in donations, with tenfold increase possible in coming decade

The total number of organ transplants performed in China is expected to reach 15,000 this year, a record high and an increase of nearly 50 percent over last year.

Since procuring organs for transplant from executed prisoners was banned last year, the number of donations has increased rapidly, senior officials and experts say.

Last year, about 10,000 transplant surgeries were performed nationwide, Huang Jiefu, former minister of health and director of the China Organ Donation and Transplantation Committee, said at the 2016 China International Organ Donation Conference in Beijing on Oct 17.

The total includes transplants using organs from living donors.

The number of people whose organs were donated after death in China this year reached 2,950 as of September, an increase of 50 percent compared with the same period last year, said Wang Haibo, director of the China Organ Transplant Response System, which is responsible for organ distribution and sharing.

This could make China the second in the world, behind the United States, in the number of organ donors by the end of the year, he said.

Data show that the total number of donated organs harvested after death last year in China exceeded 7,700, more than the totals for 2013 and 2014 combined.

"A new page has been turned" with China's establishment of a transparent organ donation and transplant system, Huang says.

China stopped using organs from executed prisoners on Jan 1 last year, when voluntary donations became the only legal source for transplants.

"Much corruption existed in the allocation of organs procured from executed prisoners," Huang says.

"The Chinese government has adopted a zero-tolerance attitude toward such behavior," he adds.

To improve and better regulate the procedure, the Organ Procurement and Allocation Committee of the Chinese Hospital Association was established on Oct 16.

It will "play a role of management and supervision over the sector and formulate related standards", he says.

Marti Manyalich, president of the International Society of Organ Donation and Procurement, says China has made great progress in promoting organ donations and transplants in the past few years.

The ratio of organ donors among Chinese, which is now more than 2 per million population, could increase tenfold in the next 10 years, which means China could nearly meet its demand for transplants, he adds.

China can make quicker progress by learning from countries such as Spain, which has one of the world's top organ donation ratios, he says.

Like many other countries, China faces a severe shortage of organs, with about 300,000 people waiting for transplant surgeries each year, according to Xinhua News Agency.

wangxiaodong@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily European Weekly 10/21/2016 page15)