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Hong Kong civil service chief appeals to staff to sign up as organ donors and give the gift of life
- Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung asks 173,000 public sector staff to join organ donor register
- Letter to staff comes after four men charged with filing donor register withdrawals in names of other people without consent
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Hong Kong authorities have appealed to more than 173,000 civil servants to sign up as organ donors after a surge in withdrawals from the register which the city leader said was a bid to “sabotage” the system.
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Secretary for the Civil Service Ingrid Yeung Ho Poi-yan appealed in a letter to government staff on Wednesday to register with the Centralised Organ Donation Register and to tell their families of their decision.
The move came after health authorities spotted an “unusual rise” in the number of people applying to be taken off the register from last December, when the government revealed its intent to establish a donation mechanism with mainland China.
Officials said among the 5,785 withdrawal applications received over the last few months, more than 2,900 were found to be invalid as they were filed by people not on the register.
Police have arrested four men for filing some withdrawal applications in the names of other people without consent.
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