Officials from Hà Nội Department of Health and the National Coordination Centre for Organ Transplantation sign a Memorandum of Understanding in Hà Nội on Monday. — Photo vietnamplus.vn

HÀ NỘI — Hà Nội’s health authorities have launched a network linking hospitals across the capital to expand the pool of tissue and organ donors amid a persistent shortage.

Nguyễn Trọng Diện, director of the Hà Nội Department of Health, said the city’s leading hospitals have mastered advanced transplant techniques but face the greatest barrier of scarce donations.

The new network aims to improve identification and management of potential donors, especially brain-dead patients, and to coordinate counseling, outreach and the receipt of donated organs.

Đồng Văn Hệ, director of the National Coordination Centre for Organ Transplantation, said each hospital is expected to become an important link in the system. 

He said Hà Nội would become a national model and added that improved training and procedures would expand opportunities to save lives through transplants.

At the launch, specialists presented on donor management at Thanh Nhàn and Saint Paul General hospitals, current legal provisions on living and brain-dead donation, practices at Việt Đức Friendship Hospital and plans to build the citywide network.

Delegates discussed obstacles in spotting and managing potential donors, improving counseling, and strengthening inter-hospital coordination.

The Hà Nội Department of Health and the National Coordination Centre for Organ Transplantation signed a memorandum of understanding to formalise cooperation and build an effective, sustainable donor-hospital network. — VNS