A person learns about donating organs and body after death at Giac Ngo Pagoda in HCM City on November 25 (Photo courtesy of Vietnam National Coordinating Centre for Human Organ Transplantation)HCM City (VNA) - As manyas 527 people voluntarily registered to donate their body and organs afterdeath at a recent event held at Giac Ngo Pagoda in HCM City.
The November 25 event to register donation oftheir body and organs for science waspart of a programme called Hanh Trinh Chung Tay Vi Su Song (Public Journey forLife).
Truong Ngoc Hanh of District 8 told VietnamNews Agency Television (Vnews) that after death her body could be useful tomedical students like her son, a senior student at Pham Ngoc Thach Universityof Medicine.
Nguyen Huy Thong of District 11 said heregistered because organ donation is a “noble” activity.
The event was held by the Vietnam NationalCoordinating Centre for Human Organ Transplantation in cooperation with thepagoda,
Buddhism Today Foundation, Pham Ngoc ThachUniversity of Medicine, and the Vietnam Society for Encouraging Body and OrganDonation.
Last year 499 volunteers had registered.
Three years after the programme began, thenumber of volunteers at the pagoda has topped 1,300, accounting for a third ofthe total number countrywide.
One person’s donation can save seven to 13patients who need organs.
Prof Dr Trinh Hong Son, deputy director ofVietnam-Germany Hospital and head of the Vietnam National Coordinating Centrefor Human Organ Transplantation, said the centre has undertaken many activitiesto popularise the significance of organ donation to the public and persuadepeople to volunteer.
If relatives of brain-dead patients want todonate the persons’ organs, any hospital in the country would help them contactthe centre, the Vietnam-Germany Hospital in Hanoi or Cho Ray Hospital in HCMCity, he said.
According to ministry statistics, the countryhas 16,000 patients with failed lung, liver or heart and 300,000 others waitingfor cornea transplants.-VNA
VNA
