Huang Jiefu, vice minister of health in China has sought for more organ donations so as to meet the growing demand of organs by patients in their country. According to him there is a big gap between the need for organ donations and the actual donations.
Statistics reveal that 1.5 million patients need organ transplants each year but only 10,000 are lucky enough to find organs. In China organs are donated by people after signing voluntary agreements. Health experts opine that if organs are allowed to be taken from people who are ‘brain dead’, it will certainly increase the organ supply. But the Chinese people belief of living till the last breath has stopped them from donating organs.Besides this, lack of brain-dead criteria and malpractice of some medical institutions have also contributed to the short supply of human organs and also has harmed the safety of recipients.
Hunag cited that people should be educated on organ donations and their perspectives changed for the better. An information network should be established for the registration and distribution of human organ donations which will augment the organ supply.
The minister said that the health ministry has worked out appropriate conditions on brain dead but he did not provide enough details. The state council on Wednesday adopted regulations on organ transplants in human beings. It also banned live organ donation by people under 18 years old and human organ trading. The voluntary donation of the organs was also stressed. According to the state council these regulations are in line with the WHO’s medical ethics and rules on human organ transplants.
The regulations are also in accordance with the international practices and laws. The minister added that though China has been working on regulating human organ transplants, the country still requires improvement on the legislation and management of organ transplants.
Source-Medindia
JYT
