Nearly 20,000 Vietnamese register for organ donation

Illustrative image (Source: VNA)

Currently, Vietnam has 19 organ transplantation centres with almost 3,700 cases conducted, of which 3,514 were kidney transplant.

Director of the national coordinating centre Trinh Hong Son said that the biggest difficulty facing Vietnam is the shortage of organs and tissues for transplantation.

Tens of patients with brain death are reported at hospitals nationwide each day, but few of them register for organ donation.

Besides the connection between organ transplantation centres has yet to meet requirements, Son added. 

Sharing the same view, Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Viet Tien stressed the need for Vietnam to boost connection between those centres to achieve faster and more effective organ transplant coordination.

Deputy Director of the national coordinating centre Nguyen Hoang Phuc stated that Vietnam issued the Law on Human Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation in 2006.

However, the law lacks policies in support for alive donors as well as donors after brain death and their relatives, and regulations on the operation of coordinating organisations and the involvement of humanitarian support funds for patients who need organ and tissue transplantation, he emphasised.

Source: VNA