China Red Cross insists dying patient must complete body donation forms in person
Despite 22-year-old cancer sufferer Zhang Qi's condition, the Red Cross Society of China still made it difficult for him to donate his body
The Red Cross Society of China has come under fire for asking a dying patient to visit their office in person to fill out body donation forms.
The critically ill patient, a bed-ridden 22-year-old from Hubei named Zhang Qi, first aired his grievances on November 12 on Sina Weibo, using the nickname “Xiao Feng".
“Yesterday afternoon during talks with the Red Cross about donating my body, I told them that I was critically ill and could not personally go to their headquarters to fill out donation forms,” Zhang wrote. “Their reply was very straightforward: if you cannot personally come fill out a form then you cannot donate your body – we have no service for sending personnel to collect the forms for you.”
He added that he had first been diagnosed with his condition a year ago and had received a bone marrow transplant from his older sister in November 2012.
His leukaemia re-emerged shortly after the transplant, becoming especially serious in October of this year, and it was during this time that Zhang first began to consider donating his body to the Red Cross.
“I only wanted to make one last contribution to society,” Zhang said, pointing out that he had received curt replies after telephoning Wuhan’s Red Cross and explaining the particulars of his condition.