Baby Chi-hoi needs a life-saving heart op, but odds are stacked against 13-month-old getting one, Hong Kong donor records show
- Review of donation rates in city show just three from children under age of six in past decade
- That number increases to nine for children 10 and younger, but there has been no child organ donation for past three years
The chances of finding a new heart for a severely ill Hong Kong baby appear to be remote, after it emerged that the city has had only three child donors under the age of six in the past decade.
A Post review of donation rates shows that number increases to just nine for children 10 years old and younger, but there has been no organ donation for that age group in the past three years.
The review was prompted by the emotional plea from the parents of Hui Chi-hoi, a 13-month-old boy, who has a rare genetic heart defect and will die without a new one.
Chi-hoi suffers from restrictive cardiomyopathy, or RCM, a condition that ultimately leads to heart failure and the failure of other organs in the body. The infant, whose blood type is O positive, is presently on artificial life support in the intensive care unit of Queen Mary Hospital in Pok Fu Lam, while his liver and kidneys are also failing.
His parents, meanwhile, are hoping they do not lose a second child to the disease. Their first son died at just seven months old in 2016.
