Signing Up Organ Donors in China Can Be an Uphill Battle

If the cost of organ transplants is not covered by the country's health insurance, sure sounds as though only those who can pay out of pocket will receive transplants.

Can someone please explain why it makes sense to give scarce organs to people who have clearly stated that they would not donate their own organs if the situation were reversed? If I lost my life I would save yours, but if you lost your life you would condemn me to die too. All organ donation should be based on a donate/receive registry. Children would be registered before birth and adults at least five years before an organ was needed. For those who claim a religious ban on donating, they can find peace of mind in their faith, knowing that their body will die with all the original parts intact.

Do you really think medical and security personnel are going to waste perfectly good donor organs from executed inmates? If so, you do not understand Chinese "culture." It makes much more sense to lie and then harvest and sell the organs for profit.

I thank Ms. Tatlow for exposing the difficulties that China has in cultivating voluntary organ donation. Two points deserve attention. The author quotes a nurse who states, "at the end of March there were 66,000 living donors on the state registry." Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting (www.dafoh.org) has saved two screen shots of the Chinese Red Cross Society donor registry. On December 30, 2015, there were 40,322 registered donors. By December 31st, there were 65,322. This 25,000 increase in just 24 hours is unprecedented anywhere in the world. The author quotes a deputy minister speaking of the ”Chinese method" in its voluntary organ donation system. This “Chinese method” of organ procurement has not only been the use of executed criminals but has primarily included forcibly removing organs from living prisoners of conscience. Killing prisoners of conscience to procure organs is nothing less than a crime against humanity and should in no way be considered an appropriate step towards positive change in China’s donation system.

Arrogant Americans should know that, in our traditional thinking, organ donors will be disabled in afterlife. But I won't agree.

There is a book out, "Bloody Harvest" about the rounding up of Falun Gong practitioners, despite their being non-political, imprisoning them before doing a full range of testing on each with an eye to their suitability as organ donors.

Read the book, I don't want to think about it now.

China should adopt the "mandatory" donation upon death with opt out (like Singapore and Spain), and back it up with disincentives to opt out (e.g., taking away certain benefits if you opt out, such as availability of organ transplants to those who opt out, lower medical insurance payments, etc.).

In a short 10 years, China can meet all of her organ transplant needs, and even gear for large scale medical tourism.

Organ transplantation is not a easy thing to accomplish at any level. I am honestly surprised they managed to increase the amount of organ donations this much in a few years. Regardless, meeting the demand will be a tremendous task that will likely take decades. The funding and support is there, but I feel that the lack of knowledge that this is a problem could be playing a large role in the low numbers. Along with this, it is hard to get people to care(especially in a pragmatist society like China's) without them having a close relative in need of an organ transplant.
Overall, I think that a more aggressive campaign focused on getting people to care and increasing awareness of the problem could go a long way in increasing supply.

What are the causes that contribute to organ need? If peoples organs are failing due to bad diet, smoking, or pollution it would be best to address those sources. Everyone’s life is precious, yet a comprehensive and long range strategy is needed. Especially in a high risk society like China.