Nearly 100 thousand Vietnamese people have registered to donate organs

When organ transplantation is the only method to save lives

Associate Professor Dr. Dong Van He, Director of the National Organ Transplant Coordination Center, Deputy Director of Viet Duc Hospital, said that organ transplantation is the only treatment method to save patients' lives in some cases.

Currently, our country has successfully transplanted most organs as developed countries have done, including: kidney, liver, heart, lung, pancreas and intestine transplants.

"Vietnam is the country with the highest total number of organ transplants per year in Southeast Asia. We are also the only ASEAN country with more than 1,000 transplants per year. However, the list of people waiting for organ transplants is still long. Every year There are still many patients who have to die because there are no organs for transplant. Meanwhile, the number of brain-dead people donating tissues and organs in Vietnam is still low compared to other countries in the world," Associate Professor Dr. Dong Van He shared. shall.

According to a report by the National Organ Transplant Coordination Center, the first brain-dead organ donation case in our country was in May 2010 at Viet Duc Hospital. From 2010 to 2022, each year there will be 10-11 brain dead organ donation cases in our country. In 2023 alone, there will be 16 brain-dead organ donation cases. From the beginning of 2024 until now, there have been 16 brain-dead organ donation cases.

Although the number of brain-dead organ donors in our country has increased, the organ shortage in Vietnam is at a very serious level.

In fact, in our country, 94% of organs are donated from living donors, only 6% of organs are donated from brain dead people. This is in contrast to developed countries where 40-90% of organs are donated from brain dead people.

The reason for this situation, according to experts, is due to the mentality of many Vietnamese people that the dead must be whole, and the understanding of organ transplantation in the community is not high. Along with that, the propaganda of focal units, including the role of hospitals and transplant donation advocacy associations, has not been done enough to meet widespread information dissemination to the people. lack of diffusion.

Nearly 100 thousand people registered to donate organs after death

Currently, according to statistics from the National Organ Transplant Coordination Center, as of June 6, 2024, there were 95,607 people registered to donate organs after death or brain death.

Recently, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh registered for organ donation and called on all adult Vietnamese people, regardless of gender, ethnicity, religion, age, or region, to volunteer to register for organ donation. Particularly, statistics from the day the Prime Minister launched it (May 19) to August 9 showed that there were 11,050 people registered to donate organs.

Ms. Nguyen Thi Xuan Huong - Hoan Kiem District Red Cross Association regularly directly mobilizes officials and people in her area to register for organ donation by hand-delivering registration forms to each person and providing support. Help bring their application to the National Organ Transplant Coordination Center to receive a card and bring it back to the registrant.

Organ donation registration cases like Ms. Huong have contributed to spreading the noble gesture of living a useful, dedicated life and giving good things to life. Thanks to this, the number of organ donation registration applications is increasing sharply.

According to the National Organ Transplant Coordination Center, the number of people receiving organ transplants is still not high because the actual number of tissue/organ donors is limited. The number of patients waiting for organ transplant is estimated at about 123,000 people. In addition, the number of patients waiting for corneal, tendon, skin, bone transplants... is also very large.

Therefore, many organizations and individuals have been interested in the field of organ donation and tissue donation and are participating in propaganda work to encourage people to register for tissue/organ donation.

"Hopefully in the near future, there will be more people who open their hearts and support the registration of tissue/organ donation so that more patients can be cured and more unfortunate cases will continue to pass away." Dedicated to life, continuing to "live" a second life" - said a representative of the National Organ Transplant Coordination Center.