Illustrative image (Source: VNA) called on staff members of its units across the city to register as organ
donors in a move to popularise the value of humanitarian organ donation in the
community.
At the launching ceremony on February 18, the
association’s chairman Nguyen Sy Truong cited the Ministry of Health’s
information that since the first organ transplant in Vietnam in 1992, the
number of such cases has remained low.
Meanwhile, the number of patients waiting for
donated tissues and organs is growing fast, he said, adding that only a few of
them have had the opportunity to receive organ transplants due to the scarcity
of donors in the country.
Registering to donate organs after death will
help bring life to patients and create a humane society, Truong said,
expressing his hope that the call will receive widespread support from Red
Cross workers and the public.
In the programme, units of the will
step up communications about organ donation among its staff members and the
community via mass media outlets, training courses, and other Red Cross
activities.
Collectives and individuals with excellent
achievements in the communications work, along with organ donors, will also be
honoured.
According to the Vietnam National Coordinating Centre for
Human Organ Transplantation under the Ministry of Health, in Hanoi’s major
hospitals alone, around 6,000 patients are in need of a kidney transplant and
more than 1,500 patients are on the waiting list for liver transplants. Over
6,000 people need cornea replacements, while heart and lung transplants are
critical to saving hundreds of others.
As of August 31, 2018, the number of brain-dead and
circulatory-dead donors had reached 223, accounting for 6.6 percent of the
total donors. The majority of organs used in transplantation in Vietnam are
from living donors. –VNA
Source: VietnamPlus
