LIVER GROUP DEMANDS MORE THAN ONE TRANSPLANT CENTRE FOR HONG KONG

People seeking liver transplants joined the march to tell the government that more than one transplant centre is needed in Hong Kong.

The Liver Living Association did not send members to the mass protest on July 1, but 40 of them appeared yesterday to campaign for the reopening of the liver transplant centre at Prince of Wales Hospital in Sha Tin.

'If we don't speak up, we will be deprived of our rights,' said Owen Chan Wai-heung, the chairman of the association.

About 600,000 people suffer from hepatitis B in Hong Kong. The conditions of 15 per cent may deteriorate and they will eventually need transplants.

Each year, four out of every 10 patients die while awaiting transplants.

Leung Chi-ming, 39, who has been waiting for a liver transplant since 2000, suffered from the closure of the Prince of Wales Hospital's transplant centre last year.