China faces severe transplant organ shortage

By June 2018, 467,858 people across China have registered to be organ donors. From those registered, a total of 17,670 donations have been made so far, with 49,956 solid organs donated, Chinanews.com reported.

The donation figures for 2015, 2016 and 2017 were 2,766, 4,080 and 5,148 respectively, according to statistics provided by the China Organ Donation Administrative Center.

Chen Xinguo, a liver transplant surgeon, said 172 liver transplant operations were performed in 2017 at the General Hospital of Armed Police Forces in Beijing, and the number of donations is on the rise year on year.

However, the country still faces a severe shortage when it comes to organs needed for transplants. It's estimated that an average of 300,000 patients require a transplant every year, but only about 16,000 operations are likely to be performed.

Huang Jiefu, chairman of the China Organ Transplantation Development Foundation, expressed his hope for more social forces to join the work of encouraging more Chinese civilians to register as organ donors, in order to bring hope to more patients in desperate need.