Internet registration soon an alternative to carrying card

Prospective organ donors will soon be able to register on the internet instead of carrying donation cards.

The government plans to set up in a few months a centralised registry for organ donations, to help health authorities identify potential donors.

The Medical Association launched a registry for organ donors in 1994 and 40,000 people have registered. The Hospital Authority's transplant co-ordinators can access the register. The new centralised registry will build on the Medical Association's register and will be maintained by the Department of Health.

When a transplant co-ordinator is alerted that a patient might be brain dead, he would first check the registry to see whether the patient has registered as an organ donor.

The co-ordinator will also ask family members whether they are aware of a patient's intention to donate organs.

If the person has either registered or expressed a wish, such as by carrying a signed organ donation card, the co-ordinators would then seek the consent of the next of kin of the deceased to donate the deceased's organs for transplant.