Vietnam Experts Urge to Attract More Organ Donors

Vietnam should come up with an effective awareness strategy to improve understanding of organ donation to lure more donors, said experts. The country is in dire need of organ transplant with around 500,000 people having transplant demand of various kinds while only 300 organ transplant cases performed yearly, the Health Ministry noted. Tran Ngoc Sinh from the Ho Chi Minh City-based Cho Ray Hospital said nearly 6,000 people currently suffer from chronic kidney failure, and 300,000 blinded caused by cornea problems. However, the very small number of organ donors made it difficult to provide these people with life-saving or life-enhancing transplants, Sinh said, adding that religious beliefs and low awareness are blamed to the situation. A recent survey on organ donation conducted among 2,000 people nationwide found that over 50% did not want to be donors, 35% agreed to become donors after their death and only 15% said they would donate whenever other people needed their help. The first kidney transplant was successfully carried out in Vietnam in 1992 and 12 years later, local doctors conducted the first liver graft surgery. Early this month, surgeons at the Hue Central Hospital in the central region successfully performed a heart transplant, the first of such operation performed solely by Vietnamese doctors. In 2011, the ministry plans to issue five more decrees relevant to organ transplant as well as set up a national organ transplant association and a coordination centre. Vietnam passed a law relating to organ donation in 2006, under which Vietnamese citizens aged 18 and above have the right to donate their tissue or organs. The law offers some incentives for donors, including free healthcare services, health insurance and priority for transplants if needed. (Vietnamplus.vn Mar 14)