Hundreds sign up to be organ donors after 7-year-old boy donates cornea
After the event of a 7-year-old girl in Hanoi donating her cornea, the number of people inquiring and registering to donate organs increased many times.
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| Military couple Vo Thanh Hai and Tran Thi Thu Hien registered to donate their organs after their death. Photo: VGP/Phuong Hoang |
The case of Mr. Vo Thanh Hai and Ms. Tran Thi Thu Hien is an example. Both of them are soldiers. They came to the Center on February 27 to register for organ donation and share, this action originated from the touching story of Hai An - who donated her cornea to give light to a blind patient after she passed away.
Mr. Nguyen Hoang Phuc, Deputy Director of the National Coordination Center for Human Organ Transplantation, said that not only the case of the military couple above, but also after the touching story of the 7-year-old girl donating her cornea, many people came to the Center to register to donate organs.
In just 2 days (February 26-27), 20 people came directly to the Center to register for organ donation. The number of people who sent emails and called the hotline from February 24 to February 27 was hundreds of cases.
This number has increased many times, because before that, only 1-2 people came to register to donate organs each day, and some days there were even no cases. Hai An's story has really spread, touching the hearts of many people.
In Vietnam, there are currently thousands of people with chronic organ failure in need of transplants, however the number of organs from donors is limited.
Since 2006, more than 1,000 people nationwide have received organ and tissue transplants, in which the source of organs and tissues mainly comes from living people, relatives donating a kidney or part of a liver, and the source of organs from brain-dead donors is very small. Meanwhile, one brain-dead person donating organs can save the lives of more than 10 other people.
Anyone 18 years of age or older with full civil capacity has the right to donate tissues and organs while alive or to register as potential tissue and organ donors (donation after death or brain death). Elderly people can donate part of their tissues, organs and corneas after death or brain death.
Currently, there are two official addresses allowed to register and issue organ donation cards in Vietnam to meet the wishes of registering to donate organs to save people after death: Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City and the National Coordination Center for Human Organ Transplantation located at Viet Duc Friendship Hospital (40 Trang Thi, Hanoi).
