China's organ transplants: A shift to voluntary organ donation system

The majority of transplanted organs in China have come from executed prisoners. In recent years, in an attempt to move away from the practice, the Chinese government has been pushing for more voluntary donations.

At the end of 2012, about 64 percent of transplanted organs in China came from executed prisoners. That number has dipped to under 54 percent by August this year.

In March 2010, China introduced its first voluntary post-mortem organ donation system at some pilot hospitals in a joint collaboration between the Red Cross and the Ministry of Health. Persuading people to donate their organs is a very new concept in China.

And so far, it has been slow going. More than 1,000 organ donors have come through the new system, benefiting at least 3,000 patients.Voluntary organ donation currently stands at an average of 130 per month, up from only 63 cases in all of 2010.

However, supply still falls far behind demand; partly because of a traditional Chinese belief that a person should be buried or cremated in one piece. An estimated 300,000 patients are wait-listed every year for organ transplants and only about one in 30 will finally receive an organ.