The Ministry of Health has honoured 403 organ donors whose generosityhas saved many patients and helped the country develop organtransplants.
The donors were given a medal as a token of theirsacrifice - and a health insurance card at a ceremony held in Ho ChiMinh City on March 21.
The organs were used to treat patients in Cho Ray Hospital, Hospital 115 and the city's paediatric hospital.
Atthe ceremony, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien thanked the donorsand called for more people to participate in the donation programme.
More than 8,000 patients throughout Vietnam with chronic kidney failure are awaiting transplants.
Another 1,500 need liver transplants and hundreds more need heart and lung transplants.
Minister Tien said the ministry had set up a council to seek organ donors.
NguyenDinh Huu, who lives in HCM City's Binh Thanh district, suffers fromserious kidney decline and has been on a dialysis machine three times aweek for four years.
His family is kept poor by the expenses for treatment.
"Whenhearing that I would receive kidney transplant, I was very happy. I didnot know who gave me the kidney, but I'm thankful," said Huu.
After a successful kidney transplant, Huu's condition is now described as stable.
A 50-year-old man from Go Vap district did not hesitate to register for organ donation.
"Isaw a programme on organ transplants on the television six months agoand I was really moved. I immediately contacted the hotline of the ChoRay Hospital to register," he said.
"I hope that after I die, I can help others live with my organs. My family encouraged my ideas."
ProfessorTran Ngoc Sinh, head of the Urology Studies at HCM City Medicine andPharmacy University, said that the sources of donated organs werelimited because many people want to keep their bodies intact afterdeath.
The sources of organs are live donors, brain-dead donors and heart-dead donors, he said.
DrNguyen Truong Son, director of Cho Ray Hospital, said that there hadbeen 1,241 organ transplants in the country, including 1,200 kidneytransplants.
The first human organ transplant was carried out by the Military Medical University and Cho Ray Hospital in Vietnam in 1992.
The first organ transplant from brain-dead donors in Vietnam was conducted at Cho Ray Hospital in April 2008.-VNA
The donors were given a medal as a token of theirsacrifice - and a health insurance card at a ceremony held in Ho ChiMinh City on March 21.
The organs were used to treat patients in Cho Ray Hospital, Hospital 115 and the city's paediatric hospital.
Atthe ceremony, Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien thanked the donorsand called for more people to participate in the donation programme.
More than 8,000 patients throughout Vietnam with chronic kidney failure are awaiting transplants.
Another 1,500 need liver transplants and hundreds more need heart and lung transplants.
Minister Tien said the ministry had set up a council to seek organ donors.
NguyenDinh Huu, who lives in HCM City's Binh Thanh district, suffers fromserious kidney decline and has been on a dialysis machine three times aweek for four years.
His family is kept poor by the expenses for treatment.
"Whenhearing that I would receive kidney transplant, I was very happy. I didnot know who gave me the kidney, but I'm thankful," said Huu.
After a successful kidney transplant, Huu's condition is now described as stable.
A 50-year-old man from Go Vap district did not hesitate to register for organ donation.
"Isaw a programme on organ transplants on the television six months agoand I was really moved. I immediately contacted the hotline of the ChoRay Hospital to register," he said.
"I hope that after I die, I can help others live with my organs. My family encouraged my ideas."
ProfessorTran Ngoc Sinh, head of the Urology Studies at HCM City Medicine andPharmacy University, said that the sources of donated organs werelimited because many people want to keep their bodies intact afterdeath.
The sources of organs are live donors, brain-dead donors and heart-dead donors, he said.
DrNguyen Truong Son, director of Cho Ray Hospital, said that there hadbeen 1,241 organ transplants in the country, including 1,200 kidneytransplants.
The first human organ transplant was carried out by the Military Medical University and Cho Ray Hospital in Vietnam in 1992.
The first organ transplant from brain-dead donors in Vietnam was conducted at Cho Ray Hospital in April 2008.-VNA
