Hong Kong group calls for simpler organ donor registration procedures
Hong Kong Transplant Sports Association wants people to be asked if they would like to become donors when applying for ID cards or driving licences
Hongkongers should be asked whether they would like to register to become organ donors when applying for identity cards or diving licences in a move to boost the city’s low donation rate, according to an advocacy group.
Dr Chau Ka-foon, honorary president of Hong Kong Transplant Sports Association, said current procedures for willing donors were too complicated and urged the government to remove the barriers.
“Many willing donors end up not being able to make donations due to a lot of reasons, such as the objections of their family,” said Chau on Monday.
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“The procedures are rather complicated.
“There should be easier ways to ask people to register, for example, [during] the application for Hong Kong identity cards or driving licences.”
Currently, some 270,000 people have registered online in the Department of Health’s centralised organ donation register, but the ratio only accounts for about 3 per cent of the city’s population. The number has gone up from around 220,000 last year.
Since April, a 17-year-old trying to donate her liver to save her dying mother have sparked more people to register to become a donor.