KIDNEY transplants on the mainland run the risk of infection and other complications, Hong Kong doctors warn. A recent operation, for instance, resulted in a ruptured kidney, according to Dr Matthew Tong Kwok-lung, chairman of the Hong Kong Society of Nephrology.
'We can't monitor how things are done over there,' says Dr Tong, based at Princess Margaret Hospital, citing drugs that are prescribed to patients, despite their known adverse side-effects. 'There are certainly more cases of complications on the mainland than here.' But with only 40 to 50 cadaver kidneys donated on average each year in Hong Kong, many hopefuls on the long transplant list are naturally tempted to look for help across the border, should they have the money.
The overall donation rate in Hong Kong is very low, at only 0.6 per million people, compared with 20 per million in the United States. And queues for organs are growing: the number of kidney transplants performed fell from 86 in 1996 to 70 last year, while there were only 15 liver transplants, compared with 27 in 1996. Since 1992, only 16 heart transplants have been carried out.
A string of exhibitions and other donation campaigns held jointly or separately over the years by the Hospital Authority, the Department of Health, the Hong Kong Medical Association, the Kidney Foundation, the Liver Foundation and the Hong Kong Eye Bank have yielded limited success.
At present, there are 31,670 donors on the computer register set up by the Medical Association, not including individuals holding donor cards issued by the Department of Health. But persuading people to donate their organs has been difficult.
'It takes time to cultivate new ideas,' says Dr Ho Chung-ping, chairman of the Medical Association's Organ Donation Registry Committee.
