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Elizabeth Cheung

The condition of a 20-year-old Chinese University student who underwent a life-saving heart transplant has deteriorated after he suffered an infection.
Second-year anthropology student Ma Cheuk-long – who developed terminal heart failure from myocarditis, a heart inflammation – received a new heart on June 19, and appeared to be on the mend.
But his condition worsened again and he needed an artificial heart and lung machine to sustain him.
Ma is currently receiving care in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit of Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam.
“His condition was turning bad. He had a serious lung infection and bacteria in his blood last week,” Dr Timmy Au Wing-kuk, chief of the hospital’s cardiothoracic surgery department, told the Post.
He said Ma’s parents were “very concerned and worried”.
Professor Henry Wong Nai-ching, head of the Chinese University’s New Asia College – where Ma is a student – made a public appeal for prayers.
“I hope all teachers, students, colleagues and alumni who have religious beliefs pray for Cheuk-long together. May God perform His love and power on Cheuk-long,” Wong wrote in an email to members and alumni of the college.
Ma, a music-loving student, contracted myocarditis in May. It is a viral inflammation of the heart muscle that weakens its function. The condition later developed into terminal heart failure.
Organ donation rates lowest for Hong Kong’s young people, survey finds
He underwent at least eight major heart operations and three cardiac catheter interventions after he was first admitted to Kwong Wah Hospital in Yau Ma Tei on April 21.
Doctors said Ma’s condition was rare. Inflammation happened mostly to young people, but up to 95 per cent of them would recover eventually.
Ma’s parents made a tearful public plea in June for heart donations to save their son.
On June 19, Ma underwent heart transplant surgery at Queen Mary Hospital after the organ from a recently deceased 50-year-old ­female patient at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Yau Ma Tei was ­delivered.
Hong Kong’s rate of organ donation is among the lowest in the world. According to the latest study by the Legislative Council, there are only 5.8 donors for every million people in the city. That would suggest at most a total of 42 donors.
The rate is around a seventh of those in countries such as Spain, which had 39.7 donors per million people, and Croatia, which has a rate of 39 per million.
Patients requiring heart transplants in Hong Kong have to wait 16 months on average to receive a new heart, more than five times longer than those in Spain.
While 14 heart transplants were performed in the city last year, seven people died during the wait for a new heart.
The Food and Health Bureau has launched a series of campaigns to promote awareness of organ donation, including setting up a promotion committee in April this year, after several high-profile organ donation appeals in the past year.


Condition of Chinese University of Hong Kong student who received heart transplant worsens after infection

Ma Cheuk-long is in Queen Mary Hospital. Photo: Felix Wong

News

Hong Kong

Health & Environment

Ma Cheuk-long, who contracted myocarditis and battled terminal heart failure, was previously on the mend after receiving a new heart


Condition of Chinese University of Hong Kong student who received heart transplant worsens after infection

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Ma Cheuk-long, who contracted myocarditis and battled terminal heart failure, was previously on the mend after receiving a new heart

Ma Cheuk-long, who contracted myocarditis and battled terminal heart failure, was previously on the mend after receiving a new heart