VietNamNet Bridge – Vietnamese hospitals have performed 900 kidney transplants, 23 liver and 9 heart transplants so far, while the number of patients who are in need of organ transplant is tens of thousands.

Deputy Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Xuyen said in a conference on organ transplant last week that the demand for tissue and organ transplant of Vietnamese patients are huge, but only ten hospitals in Vietnam can perform this kind of operation and the source of donated tissues and organs is very limited.

The demand for corneal transplants alone is estimated at about 150,000 people. As the leading eye hospital in Vietnam, the Hanoi-based Central Eye Hospital can perform about 100 cases while the transplant waiting list is at nearly 700 people/year.

According to the Ministry of Health, tens of thousands of patients with chronic diseases such as heart failure, kidney, liver, diabetes, corneal damage ... really need transplants but there is no source for organs. To date, the country has only done 900 kidney transplants, 23 liver and 9 heart transplantation operations.

Experts say that the main source of organs in Vietnam is from living people, up to 95 percent of the cases. The transplants from brain-dead people are very small.

Dr. Hoang Manh An, Director of the Military Hospital 103, said that Vietnam has the law on issue and organ removal, donation and transplantation but it does not have guiding documents. Organ donation is not much because of the perception that if someone donates his organs, his death is incomplete. Due to the shortage of organs, especially the kidneys, organ trading is a fact in Vietnam.

At the meeting, participants raised ideas on calling for and encouraging tissue and organ donation in Vietnam.

Le Ha