Editorial | Cut cross-border red tape in matters that involve life and death
- Even while maintaining standards, movement of life-saving organs should be eased between Guangdong and Hong Kong
An improved prognosis for a young patient is not the only reason to welcome the recent transfer of umbilical cord blood from mainland China to Hong Kong. Such arrangements are still quite rare.
The fact the matter was handled efficiently raises hopes for more life-saving collaboration such as with organ transplants.
The cord blood was transferred from Guangdong province to help a five-year-old girl who suffers from the inherited blood disorder thalassaemia.
Doctors treating the girl at Hong Kong Children’s Hospital said tests and other preparations are being done so the blood can be used for a stem cell transplant as soon as October.
Thalassaemia is a blood disorder that can be passed down from one or both parents. It causes the body to produce abnormally low amounts of haemoglobin – the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen.
Patients can suffer anaemia and fatigue and more severe cases need regular blood transfusions. Stem cell transplants offer a cure.
The sample came from the girl’s four-year-old brother and was stored at a blood bank in Guangdong because he was born in the province.