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In response to a media report about the inclusion of Hong Kong in the human organ allocation and sharing system of the Mainland, a spokesman for the Food and Health Bureau today (July 10) made the following clarification:
"Hong Kong does not have any formal mechanism to share cadaveric organs with other health authorities outside Hong Kong. The organ donation rules and allocation system on the Mainland are not applicable to Hong Kong.
At present, organs donated by deceased patients in Hong Kong are in principle only donated to local patients waiting for organ transplant. Only when no suitable organ recipient is found among Hong Kong patients will the Hospital Authority (HA) consider, according to the circumstances, donating the organ to a patient in other places.
In 2016, the HA granted a discretionary approval to share a cadaveric liver to a patient in Taiwan in January as there was no appropriate matching recipient locally. After obtaining the consent of the deceased patient's family, the HA, in consultation with the Food and Health Bureau and the Department of Health, decided to approve the sharing of the donated liver to Taiwan. The approval was considered and made on an ad hoc and individual case basis, but not according to any established mechanism."
Ends/Sunday, July 10, 2016
Issued at HKT 22:04
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