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The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:
The Bone Marrow Donor Award Ceremony 2015 organised by the Hong Kong Bone Marrow Donor Registry (HKBMDR) of the Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service (BTS) was held today (September 12), with 71 bone marrow donors received the recognition.
The officiating guest of the ceremony included Dr Ko Wing-man, Secretary for Food and Health; Mr Philip Tsai, Chairman of Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service Governing Committee and Hong Kong Bone Marrow Donor Registry Governing Sub-committee, and Professor Alice Chiu, President of Hong Kong Marrow Match Foundation.
Speaking in the ceremony, Dr Ko said, "the selfless contributions and generous donations of bone marrow donors make life-saving bone marrow transplantation possible. With more people register for bone marrow donation, there will be more hopes for patients." At the ceremony, a bone marrow donor-recipient pair met each other for the first time and shared their experiences.
The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) of donor and recipient must be highly or completely matched for a successful transplantation to be possible; if a patient could not find a donor within the family, he or she has to resort to an unrelated donor. According to statistics, the chance of finding a matching unrelated donor is about one in five to ten thousands only. The odds will be even less than one in one hundred thousand for patients who have 'rare' HLA type. Therefore, if there more people registered for bone marrow donation, the chance for finding a matched donor for any patient will be higher.
Twenty four years ago, Hong Kong set up the world's first Chinese-based unrelated bone marrow donor registry. As at July 31, some 104,000 people in Hong Kong have registered for voluntary bone marrow donation, and 469 of them have already given their bone marrow to patients. In addition, the HKBMDR has successfully conducted searches and found matched haematopoietic stem cells for transplantation for about 841 local and overseas patients.
Members of the public who are aged between 18 and 60 and in good health condition can register for bone marrow donation at any blood donor centre. The simple registration process includes completion of a registration form, followed by a health screening and blood samples taking for laboratory tests. For information on bone marrow donation, please call 2710 1206 or visit our website at www.ha.org.hk/rcbts.
Ends/Saturday, September 12, 2015
Issued at HKT 16:21
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