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HÀ NỘI — A 40-year-old woman and a 70-year-old veteran have registered to donate their lungs to a seriously sick British pilot who was Việt Nam’s 91st COVID-19 patient.

According to the National Co-ordination Centre for Human Organ Transplantation, the two donors had got in contact after hearing of the man's plight.

Nguyễn Hoàng Phúc, the centre’s deputy director, said the 40-year-old female donor did not know the pilot but wanted to make the donation because she had received love, help and luck over the years and felt she should share it.

The other donor from the Central Highlands province of Đắk Nông said he was very proud of Việt Nam. The Government had done a great job and left no one behind, and so far no COVID-19 patients had died.

"The transplant for Patient 91 will still depend on the doctors. If the patient has to undergo a lung transplant, the first choice will still be to seek donations from patients who have experienced cessation of brain activity. However, we will still take living donors into consideration,” Phúc said.

The family of another potential donor recently agreed to donate his organs, but unfortunately they were not in working condition.

The British pilot was suffering 90 per cent damage to his lungs, according to the HCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases where he is being treated.

The patient is now completely dependent on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO).

His CT results on Wednesday showed severe solidification and fibrosis of the lungs, making it difficult for oxygen to get into the patient’s blood.

Earlier on Tuesday afternoon, the Ministry of Health (MoH) hosted a consultation with health experts from the country’s top-tier hospitals on the case, concluding that a lung transplant is the only solution to save the patient.

However, it requires him to be given the all-clear and receive intensive antibiotic stewardship before being transferred to Chợ Rẫy Hospital for the transplant. — VNS