Doctors bow to young man who donated organs to save 4 people

Before proceeding with the organ removal surgery, the surgical team observed a minute of silence to express their respect for the 20-year-old brain-dead man lying on the operating table.

The young man's donated kidneys, liver, and heart helped revive four other patients.A 20-year-old man living in Ho Chi Minh City suffered a traffic accident and was left brain-dead. The young man's family made a humane decision that few people dare to make: they agreed to donate their son's organs. At 1 p.m. on April 26, the medical team from Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City and Viet Duc Hospital in Hanoi observed a minute of silence for the deceased donor before the organ harvesting surgery. This moment was recorded by a member of the organ harvesting surgery team, moving many people.

The surgical team observed a minute of silence to pay tribute to the young man lying on the operating table. Photo: Provided by the doctor.

The young man donated 2 kidneys, 2 corneas, heart and liver. The kidneys were transplanted to 2 patients with kidney failure who were in danger of dying at Cho Ray Hospital, while the liver and heart were transferred to Hanoi to transplant to 2 patients there. The person who received the heart transplant, 64 years old, had heart failure, had 9 stents, and only had a few days to live. The person who received the donated liver has been in the end stage of liver failure for a long time, and is 54 years old.

Every day at Viet Duc Friendship Hospital (Hanoi), there are 2-3 brain-dead patients who can donate organs, but in the past 5 years, there have been only nearly 30 organ donations. During the recent holiday, the hospital had 3-4 brain-dead patients who had previously agreed to donate organs, but none of them could be mobilized because their families did not agree.

According to Health Minister Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, organ donation is currently very modest, if not too little. The campaign is extremely difficult because people still believe that death requires the body to be intact. Meanwhile, thousands of people are waiting for organs to survive. One brain-dead donor can save many lives.

A representative of the National Coordination Center for Human Organ Transplantation said that currently, our country has tens of thousands of people who need tissue and organ transplants to sustain their lives, but they cannot do so because there is not enough tissue and organ resources for transplant. More than 6,000 people with kidney failure are waiting for transplants, over 300,000 blind people are waiting for cornea transplants; the number of people waiting for heart transplants is more than 1,500.Since 2006, more than 1,000 people nationwide have received organ and tissue transplants; the main organ and tissue sources are from living people, relatives donating a kidney or part of a liver; the organ sources from brain-dead donors are very few.

People aged 18 years or older with full civil capacity have the right to donate tissues and organs while alive or register to donate potential tissues and organs (donate after death or brain death). Elderly people can donate part of their tissues, organs and corneas after death or brain death.

According to VNE