Inadequate organ donation tragic for Chinese patients

Hangzhou (CNS) -- In general, the annual figure for patients having organ transplants in China is about 10,000, a small proportion of the one and a half million people who need new organs, according to a source on March 22.

"Due to the shortage of organ donors, many patients have died waiting, and in pain," said Hao Linna, vice president of the Red Cross Society of China (RCSC) and director of Office of China Human Organ Donation.

In 2010, RCSC opened the first organ donation facility in China. As of March 15, it facilitated 207 donations and saved more than 500 lives, said Hao.

Hao's analysis is that the cause of organ shortages can be put down to the fact that"Donor channels are not well established." Many hospitals are unable to immediately locate a potential donor and report the information, she said, adding donation work is especially difficult at primary hospitals, as they struggle with insufficient capital and a lack of solid policy support.