Within the framework of the Vietnam Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Week 2024, on October 11, in Hanoi, Vietnam Military Medical University (VMMU) coordinated with the Vietnam Organ Transplantation Association, the National Coordination Center for Human Organ Transplantation, and the Vietnam Association for Human Organ and Tissue Donation to organize the 2nd Scientific Conference on Organ and Tissue Donation in Vietnam.

At the conference, Associate Professor, Dr. Dong Van He, Director of the National Organ Transplantation Coordination Center, said that the number of brain-dead organ and tissue donations in the first 9 months of 2024 reached an impressive figure of 25 cases (in 2023, there were only 14 brain-dead organ and tissue donations), contributing to an increase in the number of organs donated from brain-dead people to 87/829 transplant patients, reaching 10.49%. “This is also considered a record number in Vietnam, because previously, the rate of organ donation from brain-dead people was about 5-6%,” Associate Professor, Dr. Dong Van He said.

Vietnam Association for Organ and Tissue Donation awarded certificates of merit to families who donated organs and tissues after death.

According to the National Organ Transplant Coordination Center, as of September 2024, after 32 years of organ transplantation and 14 years of organ retrieval from brain-dead donors, the country recorded 180 cases of brain-dead organ donation. In 2023, one thousand people in Vietnam received organ transplants, making our country the country with the most organ transplant recipients in Southeast Asia. However, the number of transplant recipients is mainly from living donors, while the source of organs from brain-dead donors is only 12 people.

Promoting tissue and organ donation is the foundation for developing tissue and organ donation from brain-dead donors. Therefore, if people and families do not understand and do not support, it will be very difficult for brain-dead people to donate tissue and organs. Therefore, convincing people to support is not only by words but also by actions through registering to donate tissue and organs.

According to Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, President of the Vietnam Association for Organ and Tissue Donation, former Minister of Health, the actual rate of brain-dead organ donors in Vietnam is still among the lowest in the world, ranking 3rd from the bottom. According to her, there are still many difficulties in the current legal regulations on conditions for organ donation after death; age of organ donation, regime for organ donors and their families; financial mechanism on costs and payments for donation, transplantation and post-transplantation.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Tien, President of the Vietnamese Association for Organ and Tissue Donation, visited Senior Lieutenant Colonel, Dr. Nguyen Le Trung – Deputy Head of the Department of Ophthalmology, Military Hospital 103 (VMMU), whose mother donated her cornea after her death.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Tien analyzed: “The first barrier is awareness, when the majority of people still have the concept of “death must be intact”, afraid to touch the body of a loved one after death; along with the fear of affecting the family, the majority of people do not realize that organ donation is a culture, responsibility and compassion for the community. In addition, people do not yet clearly understand how to register for organ donation… Therefore, in the coming time, in addition to strengthening the mobilization of people according to each target group, it is necessary to change the regulations on tissue and organ donation to help increase the source of organs, from which many lives will be revived and many deaths will not only “return to dust” but will multiply life, bringing more happiness to life”.

The conference attracted more than 300 delegates from hospitals across Vietnam and 8 experts from other countries with the highest number of organs donated from the dead in the world (Spain), the highest in Asia (Korea), the highest in Southeast Asia (Thailand)…

News and photos: Quynh Ngoc, Translation: Huy Sang Tran