China will begin a new system for organ donations in order to ensure fair and transparent distribution to recipients. The country will computerize its organ donation process for easy traceability and effectively quash the doubts of both the donors and people on the receiving end of the organ transplant.
As cited on Xinhuanet News, China's National Health Commission will implement the computerized organ donation on March 1. Once the new regulation takes effect, people and organizations can no longer deal out the donated organs without proper process approved by the commission. Those who will not follow could be penalized for the offense.
Moreover, for medical facilities where transplant surgeries are usually performed, it is a rule for doctors or medical staff to list all the patients who are waiting for transplants and input the required details in the China Organ Transplant Response System. It is also the responsibility of the hospitals to update the record of a patient if needed.
The organ procurement groups are also advised to get in touch with hospitals as soon as the organ donation system sent notifications about the available organs. The prompt response is a must in order to make sure that the message has been noted and received.
To be more specific, hospitals must log on to the computerized organ donation system within 30 minutes after receiving the notice. The medical facility must check the details and send a response within an hour if they will accept the specified organ for transplant. If not, it will be redistributed to others that need it.
Designated health officials will oversee the donation and transplant response system. With this set-up, the matching of the donated organs to prospective patients will be fast and distribution will be more efficient as well. In any case, it was revealed that Wang Haibo has been assigned to manage the system.
Meanwhile, voluntary organ donation in China has dramatically increased in 2017. According to China Daily, the China Organ Transplant Development Foundation had recorded over 300,000 registered organ donors.
It was stated that at the end of 2017, the number of organ donors rose to around 262,500 which is nearly 10 times more compared to 2015. China also banned the organ donation from executed prisoners and only allowed voluntary donations and this may be one reason why there was a sudden surged in the number of donors.
