Organ donation program to operate in 165 hospitals

By Zhang Yiwei Source:Global Times Published: 2013-8-17 1:18:02

Hospitals that are qualified to carry out organ transplants but fail to develop a national organ donation program will have their transplant license revoked immediately in order to advance the program as promptly as possible.

Huang Jiefu, director with the Organ Transplant Committee under the newly established National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), said on the China Hospital Forum held in Beijing on Friday that the organ donation program and a national organ allocation computer system would operate among a total of 165 accredited hospitals nationwide to ensure the fairness and transparency of allocating the organs.

Huang explained that a regulation will soon be released by the NHFPC to enforce the computer system, namely the China Organ Transplant Response System (COTRS).

The conference was held to promote the idea of hospitals setting up Organ Procurement Organizations (OPO), responsible for the procurement of deceased-donor organs for organ transplantation.

Francis L. Delmonico, president of the Transplantation Society in Canada, said at the conference that COTRS is a brand of fairness and transparency in the allocation of donated organs, noting that if the system is not perceived by the public as fair, they will not donate.

"There must be a computerized waitlist objectively determining, selecting, identifying who's the next person to live with a heart, or with a kidney," he said. "It becomes essential in the function of the OPO to maintain public trust by the computerized waitlist."

Delmonico also noted that cash payments should be prohibited, as it would make bargaining inevitable.

Huang said Wednesday that China's donated organs will be sourced entirely from dead citizens instead of executed criminals within two years.



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