About 6,500 organ transplants conducted nationwide in 30 years

Vietnamese doctors conduct an organ transplant. (Photo: VNA)

Hanoi (VNA) - About 6,500 organ transplants have been carried out in Vietnam since the first in 1992, showing great efforts by the entire health sector but still modest compared to other countries, an official has said.

At present, 95% of the transplants in the country use organs from living donors and only 5% from brain-dead donors, which completely runs counter to the global trend, in which the majority is transplants from brain-dead donors, Assoc. Prof. Dong Van He, Deputy Director of the Viet Duc (Vietnam - Germany) Friendship Hospital and Director of the National Coordinating Centre for Human Organ Transplants, told a ceremony announcing the decision on the centre director appointment on August 8.

In Vietnam, an estimated 10 people die each day while waiting for organ transplants. Meanwhile, it is worrying that less than 30% of doctors and 20% of nurses have gained sufficient understanding of brain death, and many do not have any knowledge about this.

These are challenges that must be addressed in the time ahead, and the system of 22 organ transplant centres along with hospitals nationwide need to make changes to encourage brain-dead organ donations, He said.

The National Coordinating Centre for Human Organ Transplants is the first unit in the country to form a list of patients waiting for transplants, and nearly 50,000 people have registered for organ donation after death or brain death./.

VNA