Greek organ donor saves lives in Guangdong

A Greek recently became the first foreign organ donor in Guangdong province and the 10th in the country. His organ donations saved the lives of three critically ill people.

Sherif El Gazzar, 37, who used to be a businessman in Zhongshan, a Pearl River Delta city in Guangdong, fell ill on Aug 17 and was sent to a local hospital. He was transferred to Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University in Guangzhou the next day and passed away on the night of Aug 22.

His older sister decided to donate his organs and signed an agreement on Aug 22, witnessed by many of Gazzar's friends as well as Grigorios Tassiopoulos, consul general of Greece in Guangzhou, and Li Jingdong, director of the organ donation office of the Guangdong Branch of the Red Cross Society of China.

The donation also represents further cooperation between China and countries along the Belt and Road Initiative in the medical and health field, said Li.

Gazzar's donation saved three critically ill Chinese patients.

On Aug 23 in Zhujiang Hospital, one of Gazzar's kidneys was transplanted to a 50-year-old man who suffered from serious uremia and the other was donated to a 30-year-old woman who had renal failure.

At the Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, his liver was transplanted to a 46-year-old hepatitis B patient who had serious hepatic failure.