Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved the setting up of a research and development centre for human organ and tissue transplants at 108 Military Hospital.

The centre will be set up with state funding for scientific and technological development during the 2016-21 period, as proposed by the ministries of defence and science and technology.

The finance ministry and relevant agencies have been asked to arrange and disburse proper funding for the project. The defence ministry and 108 Institute of Clinical Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences under 108 Military Hospital have been asked to complete the project procedures.

The National Coordination Centre for Organ Transplantation was established at Việt Đức Hospital in 2013. It connects donors of organs with those waiting for organ transplants. There are 13 hospitals across the country that can carry out organ transplants.

Vietnamese doctors have conducted 1,500 kidney, 50 liver and 13 heart transplants so far.

Viet Nam passed a law relating to organ donation in 2006. However, the number of clinically-dead patients whose organs have been donated is extremely low. About 99.4 per cent of the organ transplants in Việt Nam are done with organs donated by living people, while the remaining 0.6 per cent is conducted with organs donated by brain-dead people.

The first organ transplant involving a brain-dead donor was conducted at Chợ Rẫy Hospital in HCM City in 2010. Since then, similar surgeries have been carried out at Việt Đức Hospital, Military Medical Academy and Huế Central Hospital.Organs harvested from 35 clinically-dead patients were donated to 100 other people. 

VNS