Vietnamese doctors conduct an organ transplant. About 6,500 organ transplants have been carried out in Viet Nam since the first in 1992, showing great efforts by the entire health sector.— VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — About 6,500 organ transplants have been carried out in Việt Nam since the first in 1992, showing great efforts by the entire health sector, but the figure is still modest compared to other countries, an official has said.

At present, 95 per cent of the transplants in the country use organs from living donors and only 5 per cent from brain-dead donors, which runs counter to the global trend, in which the majority are transplants from brain-dead donors, Assoc. Prof. Đồng Văn Hệ, Deputy Director of the Việt Đức (Việt Nam - Germany) Friendship Hospital and Director of the National Coordinating Centre for Human Organ Transplants, said on Monday.

In Việt Nam, an estimated 10 people die each day while waiting for organ transplants. Meanwhile, it is worrying that less than 30 per cent of doctors and 20 per cent of nurses have gained a sufficient understanding of brain death, and many do not have any knowledge about this.

These are challenges that must be addressed, and the system of 22 organ transplant centres along with hospitals nationwide needs to make changes to encourage brain-dead organ donations, he said.

The National Coordinating Centre for Human Organ Transplants is the first unit in the country to form a list of patients waiting for transplants, and nearly 50,000 people have registered for organ donation after death or brain death. VNS