VietNamNet Bridge – At an event held at Giac Ngo Pagoda in HCM City to register donation of their body and organs for science on November 25, 527 volunteers signed up.

A person learns about donating organs and body after death at Giac Ngo Pagoda in HCM City on November 25. Photo Courtesy of Viet Nam National Coordinating Centre for Human Organ Transplantation

The event was held as part of a programme called Hanh Trinh Chung Tay Vi Su Song (Public Journey for Life).

Truong Ngoc Hanh of District 8 told Vietnam News Agency Television (Vnews) that after death her body could be useful to medical students like her son, a senior student at Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine.

Nguyen Huy Thong of District 11 said he registered because organ donation is a “noble” activity.

The event was held by the Viet Nam National Co-ordinating Centre for Human Organ Transplantation in co-operation with the pagoda, Buddhism Today Foundation, Pham Ngoc Thach University of Medicine, and the Viet Nam Society for Encouraging Body and Organ Donation.

Last year 499 volunteers had registered.

Three years after the programme began, the number of volunteers at the pagoda has topped 1,300, accounting for a third of the total number country-wide.

One person’s donation can save seven to 13 patients who need organs.

Prof Dr Trinh Hong Son, deputy director of Viet Duc Hospital and head of the Viet Nam National Coordinating Centre for Human Organ Transplantation, said the centre has undertaken many activities to communicate the significance of organ donation to the public and persuade people to volunteer.

If relatives of brain-dead patients want to donate the person’s organs, any hospital in the country would help them contact the centre, the Viet Duc Hospital in Hanoi or Cho Ray Hospital in HCM City, he said.

According to ministry statistics, the country has 16,000 patients with failed lung, liver or heart and 300,000 others waiting for cornea transplants.   

Source: VNS