Hong Kong doctor urges residents to become organ donors as number of kidney transplants performed this year drops to 19
- More than 3,000 people are waiting for transplants, with 80 per cent being kidney patients
- Hong Kong authorities recently appealed to more than 173,000 civil servants to sign up as organ donors
Hong Kong doctors have only performed 19 kidney transplants this year, according to the vice-president of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine, who appealed for more people to sign up as organ donors.
Dr Philip Li Kam-tao on Saturday said only 19 kidney transplants had been carried out in the first half of 2023, compared with about 50 annually over the past few years during the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The number has hit a new low over the past few years. The number of kidney transplants dropped because of the coronavirus restrictions,” he told a radio programme.
“The situation about organ donation is unsatisfactory. The waiting time for a transplant is long, about five to six years. Some patients passed away while waiting. I, therefore, call on people to extend their care to those in need by signing up as organ donors.”
Hong Kong’s organ donation rate is among the lowest in the world, at 4.99 donors per million people, down from 5.8 in 2015.
More than 3,000 people are on the waiting list for transplants, with 80 per cent being kidney patients.