Over 2 000 patients and their families are waiting for organ donation every day in Hong Kong. Regretfully, many patients passed away before getting the right organ match and transplant. It is therefore very important to secure active support for organ donation from the community at large with a view to bringing these patients the hope of a new life.
Ever since Hong Kong’s first cornea transplant in 1961, its first deceased kidney transplant in 1969, the launch of the Organ Donation Card by the Department of Health in 1991 and the setting up of the Centralised Organ Donation Register (CODR) in 2008, we have been facing the same problem for more than half a century – few people are willing to donate organs after death while many patients are in dire need of organ transplant. If we put ourselves in the life-threatening situation of the patients, we will better recognise the significance of organ donation, and how we will be able to live out the spirit of great love and selflessness, and exude the glorious side of human nature by joining organ donation.
Organ donation saves the lives of patients who are waiting for organ transplant. Hong Kong has been adopting an “opt-in” system for cadaveric organ donation. Everyone can play a role in fostering support for organ donation and establishing a culture of passing on love in the community. I earnestly invite colleagues to respond to the appeal by signing up at the CODR and making known your wish to your family. This not only gives hope to patients waiting for organ transplant, but also shows them our care and concern.
I remember that when I was working with the then Health, Welfare and Food Bureau more than ten years ago, a teenage boy passed away in a traffic accident. While stricken with grief, the mother donated all organs of her son out of love, touching each and every one in the bureau. I was also deeply moved. While the success rate for organ transplant is very high in Hong Kong, we need to have such selfless and compassionate donors and family members in order to benefit the patients in need. For colleagues who wish to donate your organs after death but have not registered yet, I appeal all of you to act promptly.
Your act of benevolence can rekindle the lives of those in need. Please visit the website at www.codr.gov.hk, or by scanning the QR code below, to register for organ donation.
