Source: The First Affiliated Hospital
Written by: The First Affiliated Hospital
Translated by: Bai Yang

The signing ceremony of the Organ Donation International Cooperation Program of the Ministry of Health was held in Guangzhou on December 26, 2012. Huang Jiefu, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Health; Zhao Baige, Executive Vice President of the Chinese Red Cross; Ko Wing-man, Secretary for Food and Health of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government; Yao Zhibin, Director-General of the Health Department of Guangdong Province; Sun Yang, Deputy Director of the Medical Service Supervision Department of the Ministry of Health; Wang Liji, Deputy Director of the Office for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs of the Ministry of Health, Kenneth Wong, District Governor of Rotary International District 3450; Zheng Detao, Secretary of SYSU Party Committee, Wang Jianping, Executive Vice President of SYSU; Wang Shenming, President of The First Affiliated Hospital; He Xiaoshun, Deputy President of The First Affiliated Hospital; a total of over three hundred guests attended the ceremony.

The cooperation program was jointly implemented by the Office for Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan Affairs of the Ministry of Health, Rotary International District 3450, the China Organ Transplant Response System Research Center at the University of Hong Kong and The First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University. Through the publicity, promotion, international cooperation and exchange about organ donation, the four sides will explore to build the China organ transplant response system with Chinese characteristics, and promote the cooperation and development of organ donation and use among mainland China, Hong Kong and Macao.

Vice Minister Huang Jiefu pointed out that, the agreement and implementation of this program is beneficial to enhancing the transparency and fairness of organ donation, distribution and use, and promoting the implementation of the Human Organ Transplantation Regulation in mainland China.

Secretary Zheng Detao thanked the Ministry of Health, Rotary International and the University of Hong Kong for their trust in The First Affiliated Hospital. He fully approved the significance of establishing the organ donation and transplantation cooperation program, and expressed that we would make joint efforts to contribute to the organ donation cause in China.

District Governor Kenneth Wong said that, taking advantage of its international network, professional knowledge, credibility and executive capability, Rotary International District 3450 will establish a human organ donation system compatible with China’s national condition and increase the credibility of organ donation and distribution.

It is reported that since the establishment of the citizen voluntary donation system, by December 15, 2012, there has been 547 organ donation cases in mainland China, including 148 cases in Guangdong. The Ministry of Health plans to comprehensively promote the organ donation work in China in March, 2013.