Vietnamese organ transplant experts joined their colleagues from the US,Japan, Australia and India in discussing solutions to further developorgan transplantation in Vietnam at a seminar in Ho Chi Minh City’s ChoRay Hospital on Dec. 3.

US Prof. Francis L. Delmonico, who isalso President of the Transplantation Society and an expert World HealthOrganisation (WHO) consultant on human organ transplantation,emphasised the neccessity of setting up a network of organ donors andhaving transparent regulations on brain dead diagnosis to avoid patientsbecoming the victims of organ trafficking.

Ethics education fordoctors and building a law to protect organ donors are also needed toensure that harvesting organs for transplantation is not the reason forthe death of any organ donor, he said.

Prof. Nghiem Dao Dai, whois former Director of the Organ Transplantation Faculty of the USAllegheny General Hospital, said that all countries, including Vietnam,face a shortage of organ donors.

The number of registered organ donors is less than that of people needing organ transplant, he added.

Vietnamhas around 5,000 patients who need artificial blood filtering eachyear, its blood filtering centres are always crowded, said Dai, addingthat many patients died while waiting for organ transplants.

Itis necessary to develop the organ transplant strategy, promoteinformation on the issue to increase the number of organ donors as wellas eradicate the concept that organ transplants only serve rich people,said Dai.

Cho Ray Hospital has performed seven kidney transplants from brain-dead donors, the seminar was told./.