CRI听力:China Urged to Build Formal System for Organ Donation

Statistics from the Chinese Ministry of Health show that each year nearly 1.5 million Chinese patients require organ transplants, but only 10,000 operations are made due to a severe shortage of donors.

To tackle the issue, Vice Minister of Health Huang Jiefu expressed hope that a formal system of organ donation could be set up within three to five years, a move that would decrease reliance on organs from those given the death penalty.

Bioethics researcher with the Institute of Philosophy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences Qiu Renzong believes that the government's heavy reliance on the organs from criminals in transplant surgeries restricts it from exploring better, and more reasonable, options for organs that can be used for transplants.

Aside from the government's reasons, Qiu Renzong thinks the outdated mindset of some Chinese people also poses an obstacle in the country's development in organ donation.

"A mass of Chinese people have an old, deeply-rooted concept that they should keep their body in one piece after their death. Such a concept is very out of date and not only exerts a negative impact on the organ transplant problem but also hinder hospitals from carrying out autopsies that are important for a hospital to ascertain the cause of death."

For those who want to see the miracle of life, it's another story. A five-year-old boy, named Wang Chenbo, in accordance with his parent's wishes, recently donated his organs to the Beijing You'an Hospital, a medical institution famous for its liver transplant center.

The baby, who died of Fanconi syndrome, donated his corneas, as his liver and lungs were found to be unsuitable for donation.

Lu Shichun, a liver transplant expert with the Beijing You'an Hospital, witnessed organ donation firsthand. In addition to being moved, he pointed out that the number of volunteer donations is too small considering the demand. He called for a formal system to support organ donation.

"In accordance with the pace of China's social development, the country is urgently in need of a formal system of organ donation. I think public awareness is inadequate and the social atmosphere is too immature. This situation demands that medical staff and the relevant government departments give the public more information regarding the channels for organ donation."

The expert added that he believes the shortage of organs used for transplant surgeries would always exist in China and in other nations, but he also stated that the only way to solve this grave problem is to set up a reliable system by which organs can be donated.

For CRI' I'm Xu Fei.