Two weeks after Prime Minister registered to donate organs, the list increased by 10,000 people

The information was announced by Associate Professor, Dr. Dong Van He, Director of the National Coordination Center for Human Organ Transplantation (abbreviated as the National Organ Transplant Coordination Center) at the ceremony to announce the decision to appoint the deputy director of this center on June 3.

“In about 10 years, Vietnam had 86,000 people register to donate organs and tissues after death, but since the organ donation registration launch ceremony on May 19, especially after the Prime Minister directly registered to donate organs, the number of people registering increased very quickly, by 10,000 people,” said Dr. He.

In addition, many medical facilities such as the 108 Central Military Hospital and hospitals in Quang Ninh have organized campaigns to encourage medical staff to register to donate tissues and organs, but have not updated the information.

Associate Professor He said that building a network of hospitals to promote organ and tissue donation is very important. For example, Malaysia has a population of 39 million (one-third of Vietnam) but has 156 organ donation hospitals with many consulting groups.

“At the time of our visit, this country had 32 cases of brain death organ donation since the beginning of the year, while in Vietnam during the same period there were only 9 cases. 5 of these people were at Viet Duc Friendship Hospital, there were no cases at hospitals in the South and Central regions,” Associate Professor He said.

Currently, the network for mobilizing organ and tissue donation in Vietnam has been established in 68 hospitals, including 24 hospitals in the North, 29 hospitals in the South, and the rest in the Central region. However, the network has not been as effective as expected.

Associate Professor, Dr. Dong Van He said that the National Organ Transplant Coordination Center estimates that in Vietnam there are 500-600 hospitals with "potential" brain-dead sources, out of a total of about 1,500 hospitals nationwide. If we can expand the network model, in 5-7 years we will have a source of organ donations from brain-dead donors equivalent to Korea.

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan said that after 32 years, Vietnamese doctors have been able to transplant most human organs such as kidneys, livers, hearts, lungs, pancreases, etc. In the past two years, Vietnam has transplanted 1,000 cases per year, leading the ASEAN region. Although the number of transplants is increasing, it still cannot meet the needs of patients. Another difficulty is that about 95% of organ transplants come from living donors, while in developed countries, most of the donations come from brain-dead donors.

The leader suggested that the National Organ Transplant Coordination Center study and enhance the application of information technology to coordinate quickly, flexibly, publicly and transparently. In addition, the center should study mechanisms and policies to increase income for staff and recruit enough numbers to meet the quota assigned by the Ministry of Health.