Replies to LegCo questions
LCQ14: Organ donation
Following is a question by Dr the Hon Kwok Ka-ki and a written reply by the
Secretary for Food and Health, Dr Ko Wing-man, in the Legislative Council today
(April 27):
Question:
Currently, quite a number of patients suffering from organ failure are waiting
for transplant of deceased organs in order to sustain life. In this connection,
will the Government inform this Council:
(1) of the respective numbers of patients waiting for transplant of various
types of deceased organs, and the respective average time for which they had
waited, as at April 2016;
(2) whether it knows the number of patients who passed away in each of the past
five years while waiting for transplant of deceased organs;
(3) of the number of members of the public who newly signed the organ donation
card in each of the past five years;
(4) of the channels through which the authorities promoted organ donation in the
past five years and the relevant expenditure incurred; the difficulties
encountered by the authorities in promoting organ donation; whether the
authorities have conducted regular reviews on the effectiveness of the various
publicity channels; and
(5) if it knows whether there were Hong Kong residents who sought medical
treatment from local public hospitals in each of the past five years due to
after-effects of the organ transplant operations they received outside Hong
Kong; if there were, the number of such patients and the details?
Reply:
President:
(1) The Hospital Authority (HA) updates the statistics of organ donation on a
half-yearly basis. The number of patients waiting for transplant of various
types of organs and the average waiting time in 2015 are set out in Annex 1.
(2) Whether the cause of a patient's death is related to the lack of an organ
for transplant depends on the organ needed and the availability of alternative
treatment options. Given the complexity of the issue and controversy involved,
there is no unanimous conclusion yet. As far as organs like kidney, cornea, skin
and bone tissue are concerned, patients suffering from renal failure can live on
by receiving dialysis treatment, and the lack of cornea and skin and bone tissue
for transplant does not directly cause a patient's death. After detailed
discussions of different organ transplant teams, the HA began to adopt a set of
standard criteria in 2010 to calculate the number of patients on the organ
transplant waiting list who died in the year. Based on such criteria, the
statistics of the number of patients who died while waiting for organ transplant
in each of the past five years are shown in Annex 2.
(3) The Department of Health (DH) launched the Centralised Organ Donation
Register (CODR) in November 2008 to encourage the public to register their wish
to donate their organs after death. Members of the public may choose to register
in the CODR by mail/fax or through the Internet (www.organdonation.gov.hk). The
number of people registered in the CODR in the past five years are set out in
Annex 3.
Members of the public may carry signed organ donation cards. Since people who
have signed the organ donation card do not need to report to the DH, we do not
have the latest number of people who have signed the cards.
(4) Organ donation and transplant, and eventually whether patients can be saved,
depend on a number of factors. The HA has put in place a mechanism to handle and
co-ordinate various clinical aspects involved in the process. However, a key
factor is the attitude of the general public towards organ donation. The
Government has been inculcating a culture of organ donation in the community,
hoping that the public can accept the concept of donating organs after death to
bring new lives to others. Over the years, the DH and HA have been working with
various professional community partners such as organ donation co-ordinators who
play a supportive and co-ordinating role, with a view to creating a positive
atmosphere for organ donation in the whole community.
A focus group study conducted by the DH in 2015 revealed that traditional
beliefs and family factors, together with certain misunderstandings and worries
among the general public, have led to their reservations about organ donation.
Hence the DH and its partners should enhance public understanding about organ
donation to ease their concerns and increase their willingness to donate organs
after death.
The Government just established the Committee on Promotion of Organ Donation in
mid-April to further promote organ donation. The committee will co-ordinate and
integrate the relevant work of different government departments and
organisations to augment public education and publicity, so as to foster and
fortify the culture of organ donation. It is responsible for formulating
strategies and directions for organ donation promotion, co-ordinating activities
for promoting and facilitating organ donation, as well as formulating programmes
and activities to encourage and educate the public on organ donation. It will
also invite non-governmental organisations, institutions, members of the
community and the media to participate in various activities and programmes,
with a view to enhancing public understanding of and reducing their resistance
and hesitation to organ donation. It is hoped that through these efforts, Hong
Kong people will be willing to donate organs after death to save other people's
lives.
The expenditure and manpower on the publicity of organ donation cannot be
separately identified as they are absorbed by the overall provision for health
promotion under the Food and Health Bureau and DH.
(5) No matter where the transplant was conducted, patients who have undergone
organ transplant have to receive follow-up treatment after the operation, such
as taking anti-rejection drugs on a continuous basis. The HA will provide the
necessary follow-up services and continuum of care for these patients.
For kidney transplant, statistics on the number of patients who had kidney
transplant outside Hong Kong and received follow-up care in public hospitals in
each of the past five years are shown in Annex 4.
Apart from kidney transplant, the HA does not have the annual statistics on the
number of Hong Kong residents who receive follow-up care in public hospitals
after undergoing organ transplant operations in places outside Hong Kong.
According to the information currently available to HA, the number of patients
who have undergone liver, heart and lung transplant outside Hong Kong and are
receiving follow-up care in public hospitals are 205, four and two respectively.
Ends/Wednesday, April 27, 2016
Issued at HKT 17:06
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