A severe organ donor shortage in Vietnam means that few patients receive much-needed transplants.
PhanVan Bau, director of People's Hospital 115 in Ho Chi Minh City, saidthat 500 patients needed hemodialysis due to serious kidney decline.However, the hospital's 60 machines could not treat them all, even whenoperating at full capacity.
During the past 10 years, thehospital conducted barely 60 kidney transplant surgeries, as few peopleagreed to donate their kidneys. This reflects a nationwide problem. Thecountry has 13 kidney transplant centres, but only about 500 people havereceived the surgery in the past two decades.
Associateprofessor Tran Ngoc Sinh, head of the Cho Ray Hospital's Urology Ward,said that thousands of patients needed hemodialysis and 100 were waitingfor donated kidneys, yet few people were willing to donate organs.
Morethan 72,000 people in the country suffer from kidney decline and 6,000need kidney transplants, while 5,000 need cornea transplants andthousands need liver transplants, according to the Ministry of Health.
Everyyear more than 10,000 people across the country die in trafficaccidents, according to the National Traffic Safety Committee. HCMCity's Cho Ray Hospital alone sees 1,000-1,500 brain death and headtrauma victims every year, and the Viet Nam-Germany Hospital in Hanoicited similar statistics.
If one person agrees to donate his orher organs, four or five lives can be saved. However, few families ofbrain-dead individuals agree to make the donation, often for spiritualreasons.
Associate professor Ha Phan Hai An, head of theVietnam-Germany Hospital's Kidney and Blood Filtration Ward, said thatorgan transplants in Vietnam were cheaper than elsewhere in the world,but the cost – hundreds of millions of dong –was still too high for mostcitizens.
Moreover, after the transplant, patients must use medicines that cost millions of dong per month for the rest of their lives.
TheNational Centre for Co-ordinating Human Organ Transplants, the first ofits kind in the country, was founded at the Vietnam-Germany Hospital inJune last year following Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's Decision2002/QD-TTg.
The centre will make a list of people needing organtransplants, co-ordinate with hospitals and medical stations across thecountry to create an organ bank, call for organ donors and install amanagement system with information technology.
"The most important task is for hospitals and medical stations to convince people that organ donation can save lives," said An.-VNA
PhanVan Bau, director of People's Hospital 115 in Ho Chi Minh City, saidthat 500 patients needed hemodialysis due to serious kidney decline.However, the hospital's 60 machines could not treat them all, even whenoperating at full capacity.
During the past 10 years, thehospital conducted barely 60 kidney transplant surgeries, as few peopleagreed to donate their kidneys. This reflects a nationwide problem. Thecountry has 13 kidney transplant centres, but only about 500 people havereceived the surgery in the past two decades.
Associateprofessor Tran Ngoc Sinh, head of the Cho Ray Hospital's Urology Ward,said that thousands of patients needed hemodialysis and 100 were waitingfor donated kidneys, yet few people were willing to donate organs.
Morethan 72,000 people in the country suffer from kidney decline and 6,000need kidney transplants, while 5,000 need cornea transplants andthousands need liver transplants, according to the Ministry of Health.
Everyyear more than 10,000 people across the country die in trafficaccidents, according to the National Traffic Safety Committee. HCMCity's Cho Ray Hospital alone sees 1,000-1,500 brain death and headtrauma victims every year, and the Viet Nam-Germany Hospital in Hanoicited similar statistics.
If one person agrees to donate his orher organs, four or five lives can be saved. However, few families ofbrain-dead individuals agree to make the donation, often for spiritualreasons.
Associate professor Ha Phan Hai An, head of theVietnam-Germany Hospital's Kidney and Blood Filtration Ward, said thatorgan transplants in Vietnam were cheaper than elsewhere in the world,but the cost – hundreds of millions of dong –was still too high for mostcitizens.
Moreover, after the transplant, patients must use medicines that cost millions of dong per month for the rest of their lives.
TheNational Centre for Co-ordinating Human Organ Transplants, the first ofits kind in the country, was founded at the Vietnam-Germany Hospital inJune last year following Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung's Decision2002/QD-TTg.
The centre will make a list of people needing organtransplants, co-ordinate with hospitals and medical stations across thecountry to create an organ bank, call for organ donors and install amanagement system with information technology.
"The most important task is for hospitals and medical stations to convince people that organ donation can save lives," said An.-VNA
