LCQ11: Statistics on organ or tissue transplant operations
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     Following is a question by Dr the Hon Pierre Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, in the Legislative Council today (June 13):
 
Question:
 
     Regarding the statistics on organ/tissue transplant operations, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
 
(1) the respective numbers of donors and recipients in respect of the transplant operations, performed in public hospitals in each of the past 10 years on each kind of organs/tissues, including the transplants of liver (living, cadaveric), kidney (living, cadaveric), heart, cornea, skin, bone, bone marrow and lung;
 
(2) the respective numbers of children and adults receiving various kinds of organ/tissue transplants, as well as the medical expenses incurred for each kind of organ/tissue transplant operations, in each of the past 10 years; and
 
(3) the details of funding received, in each of the past 10 years, by the specialties/centres responsible for performing organ/tissue transplant operations at the Queen Mary Hospital, Prince of Wales Hospital, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, Tuen Mun Hospital, Kwong Wah Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong Eye Hospital and Grantham Hospital?
 
Reply:
 
President,
 
     My reply to the various parts of the Dr Hon Pierre Chan's question is as follows:
 
(1) The numbers of human organ/tissue donations for transplant handled by the Hospital Authority (HA) from 2008 to 2017 are tabulated below:
Organ/Tissue Donation
(Case)
2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Kidney
Cadaveric 65 87 74 59 84 70 63 66 60 61
Living 12 8 7 8 15 12 16 15 18 17
Kidney (total) 77 95 81 67 99 82 79 81 78 78
Liver
Cadaveric 26 43 42 30 45 38 36 36 37 40
Living 42 41 53 44 33 34 27 23 36 34
Liver (total) 68 84 95 74 78 72 63 59 73 74
Other organs (Cadaveric)
Heart 6 10 13 9 17 11 9 14 12 13
Double Lung 1 2 2 1 3 2 4 13 8 12
Single Lung 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 1
Cornea (piece) 211 203 250 238 259 248 337 262 276 367
Skin 19 17 23 21 6 4 9 10 10 11
Bone 1 0 6 0 3 3 1 4 1 3
Total 383 411 470 410 465 424 502 443 459 559
Note: Cases of skin and bone transplant are spontaneous and urgent in nature.  Substitutes will be used if suitable skin or bone is not available for transplant.

(2) and (3) The HA does not keep a statistical breakdown of organ/tissue recipients by age group.
 
     The HA's organ transplant service is provided in a team approach.  Members of the team include Organ Donation Coordinators and multi-disciplinary professionals from specialties such as Medicine, Intensive Care Unit, Surgery, Anaesthesia and laboratories.  The scope of service covers care for organ recipients, identification of organ donors, life support for brain-dead patients, counselling for donors' families, organ transplant operations and post-operative care.  Hence, separate breakdowns of expenditure on or funding for organ/tissue transplant operations for individual hospitals are not available.

Ends/Wednesday, June 13, 2018
Issued at HKT 12:22

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