Online registration helps pump up organ donations in China

More than 300,000 people in China have registered as organ donors through an online registration system operated by China Organ Transplantation Development Foundation, a rise of nearly of 40,000 so far this year, the foundation said on Friday.

The number of donors has been increasing rapidly since the system was launched in March 2014, said Zhao Hongtao, deputy secretary-general of the foundation. In 2014, only 17,552 people registered through the system, according to the foundation.

The total number of registered organ donors in China exceeded 422,000 by March 28, according to the latest figures released by the China Organ Donation Administrative Center, under the Red Cross Society of China.

Only the two organizations — China Organ Transplantation Development Foundation and China Organ Donation Administrative Center — are eligible for donor registration in China. People can register through online platforms run by the two organizations, or contact local Red Cross societies.

To facilitate registration, people can also complete the whole registration procedure on Alipay in as little as 10 seconds, Zhao said.

“The rapid increase in the number of organ donors in China shows great potential for organ donation and transplantation,” said Huang Jiefu, chairman of the foundation.

“More similar innovative efforts are needed from various parties, including the Red Cross Society of China, to keep the number of organ donors rapidly increasing,” he said.

Every year more than 300,000 patients with terminal diseases wait for organ transplants in China, but only about 10,000 transplants are carried out due to a lack of donated organs, according to the foundation.

Guo Yanhong, deputy chief for medical administration and supervision at National Health Commission, said the number of people who have donated organs after death in China is expected to exceed 6,000 by the end of year.

Organ donation and transplantation has made rapid progress in China since 2015, the year China stopped transplant surgeries sourced from executed prisoners, making voluntary donation the only legitimate source, she said.

Last year, more than 5,100 people in China donated organs after death, with the total number of organs donated reaching 16,000, an increase of 26 percent over 2016, making China the third highest country — after the United States and Spain — for the number of organs donated, according to China Organ Transplantation Development Foundation.