Vietnam makes milestones in organ donation and transplants

Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan speaks at the conference.

The above impressive figures were revealed by Deputy Minister of Health Tran Van Thuan at a conference held on January 7 in Hanoi by the National Coordinating Center for Human Organ Transplantation.

According to the health official, last year, after the launch ceremony by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, the number of organ donors has been multiplied. Attentively, 41 patients agreed to donate their organs when they die, a recorded number so far.

Moreover, together with the increase in organ donors, last year also witnessed the simultaneous heart-liver transplant and the transplant of a trachea segment from a brain-dead donor (a rare technique in not only Vietnam but also the world). Additionally, three successful lung transplants in 2024 have increased the number of lung transplants in Vietnam to 12 since the first of its kind in 2017.

An organ transplant at Viet Duc Friendship Hospital (Photo courtesy of the hospital)

Deputy Minister Thuan said that the donors and their families are silent heroes of life that we have to be grateful to and that they have made miracles, written fairy tales in daily life and brought hopes and opportunities to live to many patients.

However, the official pointed out that the current organ donation and transplants have not met patients’ demands. The rate of organ donation from brain-dead donors is still low in Vietnam against that in other regional countries. Therefore, this year, the policy on organ donation and transplants must be completed together with further application of information technology, digital transformation in managing the waiting list of patients with effective, publicized and transparent coordinating principles.

Assoc. Prof., Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Tien speaks at the event.

Speaking at the event, Assoc. Prof., Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, former Health Minister and Chairwoman of the Vietnamese Association for Organ and Tissue Donation, said that Vietnam had never gained continuous achievements as it did last year. She emphasized that Vietnam will catch up with countries in the region and the world in terms of organ transplant techniques and organ donation rates from brain-dead donors in the future.

Translated by Mai Huong