Nov.15 - China is suffering a serious shortage of human organ donations, a senior health official said on Tuesday.

 

"There are about 1.5 million people in China who need transplants each year, but only around 10,000 operations can be carried out due to shortages," Huang Jiefu, Vice Minister of Health, told a conference on the management of organ transplants held in Guangzhou.

 

China, like other countries, is faced with a huge gap between patients who need organ transplants and limited organ donations, Huang said.

 

The main cause of the shortage is that many Chinese are not willing to donate their organs after death because of traditional rituals and beliefs, he said.

 

There is also no clear guidance for the public on what to do if they wish to donate organs, which often results in those willing to donate unable to do so.

 

The absence of laws concerning organ transplants and irregular organ transplant practices in some medical institutions have blocked the promotion of organ transplants in China, Huang noted.

 

China performs the second most organ transplant operations in the world every year and its technology is improving, with a longer survival rate for patients who have had the operations, Huang said.

 

The Ministry of Health banned the sale of human organs on July 1. The ministry has finished drafting China's human organ transplant regulation and the draft is undergoing revision and will soon be promulgated.

 

Huang called for an information network that registers and keeps track of every human organ donation. He also said the promotion of organ donation among the public would increase the number of donors.

 

Huang noted that advertisements aimed at attracting foreign patients disguised as tourists to receive transplant operations in China were strictly banned.