HCM CITY — The Ministry of Health is seeking approval to set up a nodal agency that will manage all organ donation and transplantation in the country.

Once established, the centre would act as a liaison agency between people seeking to donate organs and those in need of transplants and assign priority for the recipients, Nguyen Tuan Hung, deputy director of the ministry's Personnel Department, said. But he added that it would not have responsibility of storing organs, he said.

The country has various organ banks like the eye bank at National Eye Hospital and organ banks at the Military Medical Academy, National Hospital for Obstetrics and Gynaecology and the Hospital for Haematology and Blood Transfusion.

Luong Ngoc Khue, director of the ministry's Medical Treatment Department, said if the country has a dedicated centre to co-ordinate organ donation and transplant, the dissemination of information between donors and recipients would be strengthened.

It is also likely to help curb the illegal organ trade.

According to ministry statistics, nearly 6,000 people in the country require kidney transplants.

In Ha Noi alone, 1,500 patients need liver transplants. Although there are no figures available for how many people require heart transplants and the procedure has yet to be performed in the country, Khue said Viet-Duc Hospital, a leading surgical performer in Ha Noi and some others have the know-how for the surgery.

Hung said around 500 people have registered to donate organs. The new centre would temporarily be housed at the National Paediatric Hospital, renowned for performing organ transplants. — VNS

From vietnamnews