Hong Kong could greatly benefit from cross-border organ imports mechanism, doctors say after local baby receives heart from mainland China
- Excellent timing for the city to be incorporated in the mainland’s organ donation system, HKU’s Albert Chan says
- Clear process between Health Bureau and National Health Commission is needed to identify organ source and ensure it is uncompensated bequest, he adds
Hong Kong could greatly benefit from cross-border organ donations given the city’s persistently low rate of residents willing to sign up to become donors, doctors have said after a local baby girl received a heart from mainland China in the first arrangement of its kind.
Albert Chan Chi-yan, clinical professor at the University of Hong Kong’s (HKU) department of surgery, on Monday said the successful operation over the weekend underscored the time was right to incorporate the city into the mainland’s organ donation network.
“Ultimately, the organ donation rate in Hong Kong is very low,” he said. “If the government could follow up and establish a transparent mechanism to enable more organ transplants to help Hong Kong residents, that would be encouraging news.”
On Saturday, four-month-old Cleo Lai Tsz-hei underwent an operation to receive a heart belonging to a child over the border who succumbed to a severe head injury on Friday. Hong Kong and the mainland’s health authorities have until now maintained separate networks for matching patients with donors.
Nearly 3,000 residents were on a waiting list for an organ transplant by the end of September, provisional figures from the Hospital Authority show, while more than 3,500 Hongkongers were on a mainland database awaiting a transplant, according to health minister Lo Chung-mau. About 1,000 residents had undergone a transplant over the border, Lo told the Xinhua News Agency on Sunday.
The average waiting time for heart transplants stood at just over two years in 2019, with an average of 6.8 patients waiting for a transplant at any one time.
Hong Kong’s organ donation rate is currently among the lowest in the world, at 3.9 donors per a million people in 2019, down from 5.8 in 2015, according to research conducted by the Legislative Council.