CRI听力:China Sees Rise in Organ Donation

Official data shows close to 54-hundred people in China donated more than 14-thousand body parts through the first ten months of this year.

Both figures are the highest ever recorded in China.

Speaking to a forum on organ donation this week in Hunan's capital, Changsha, Gao Xinpu with the government's National Organ Donation and Transplant Committee says a change in attitude is the main reason.

"Over the past five years, public awareness of organ donation in China has grown significantly. The rate of organ donations per every million people here in China has risen from 0.03 in 2010 to 1.24 last year."

The first national regulations on organ donations in China were adopted in 2007, banning the trade in organs.

In 2010, a voluntary organ donation system was launched in a number of different regions, then implemented nationwide last year.

And in a surprise move to start out the year, authorities ended the practice of harvesting organs from condemned prisoners, which observers suggested had compromised China's human rights credentials and left it open to criticism from the rest of the world.

Gao Xinpu says establishing a sound organ distribution system has been a priority in the Donation Committee's work.

"The most important thing is how to make the distribution of donated organs fair. Since 2011, we have been trying to set up a system which fits in-line with international criteria and medical ethics when it comes to creating a priority list."

China currently has the largest number of organ donations in Asia.

But given this country's status as the world's most populous nation, Gao Xinpu says need is still well-outstripping demand.

"The donor to receiver ratio is still low, at around 1 to 30. Of the roughly 300 thousand people in China who need a transplant every year, only around 10-thousand get the organ they need."

Another issue is the number of qualified transplant doctors in China.

There are currently around 170 hospitals across the country which are able to do organ transplants.

However, there are no more than 200 doctors able to conduct the operations.

It's being estimated the number of available hospitals for transplants will have to rise to 300, and the number of transplant surgeons to 400, before capacity demands will be met in China.

For CRI, this is Luo Wen.