Lack of trust slows progress for organ donations

(Ecns.cn) -- China's Ministry of Health is attempting to create a more robust organ distribution system amid the widespread distrust of willing donors, reports Xinmin Weekly magazine.

Sun Chen, 15, suffered a cerebral hemorrhage earlier this month in Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, and was declared brain-dead soon after arriving at a hospital. According to her wishes, Sun's parents filled out a form agreeing to donate their daughter's liver, kidneys and corneas.

The girl's decision stirred a sensation online as netizens aired their views about whether they would ever make the same choice.

Half of those who commented said they would be happy to donate their organs, while those who declined mostly cited a surprising reason: In the past, most objections were related to Chinese cultural traditions, but now the problem lies mostly in mistrust of the country's medical system, writes Xinmin Weekly.

"I am willing to donate my organs after death, but I worry that they might go to patients with power and influence instead of those in critical need of transplants," said a 30-year-old female office worker.

The Ministry of Health and the Red Cross Society of China launched an organ donation program in March 2010 which has since facilitated more than 1,200 successful donations, according to Vice-Minister of Health Huang Jiefu.

"After the upcoming Spring Festival, the ministry plans to take the donation program nationwide, but there are still many obstacles," he says.

In China, organ donations can only be carried out on patients who have suffered cardiac death, yet organ transplant surgeons have long argued that brain-death donations would help secure many more high-quality organs.

"The lack of brain-death legislation is hampering organ donation because cardiac death in many cases results in organ failure," says Huo Feng, a senior surgeon at the General Hospital of the Guangzhou Military Command in Guangdong Province.

"In 30 minutes after cardiac death, a potential donor's liver will not meet transplant standards. In 60 minutes, other organs such as the kidneys also fail. Only corneas are still transplantable," Huo says.

"Most people will only accept cardiac death, so they won't allow us to remove life support from brain-dead donors," Huo explains. "Moreover, declaring brain death requires a very rigorous diagnostic procedure, and medical practitioners won't give up any chance of survival for their patients before doing so."

Regarding the public's distrust of the medical system, Huo says China's organ distribution scheme is comparable to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) in the United States. "Even the system's operators don't know the names of organ recipients, because they are encoded randomly."

However, China's organ donation program does have its problems, he admits.

"For example, many potential donors, especially those who die in traffic accidents, aren't able to express their willingness to donate organs, even if they fill out forms pertinent to the issue," says Huo. "If public security departments cooperate with the Red Cross, the problem will be solved, and hospitals could conduct transplant surgeries according to a donor's will at the time."

Earlier this year, China announced plans to phase out reliance on organs from executed prisoners for transplants.