The following is issued on behalf of the Hospital Authority:

     ​Today (September 22) is World Marrow Donor Day. The Bone Marrow Donor Award Ceremony 2026, organised by the Hong Kong Bone Marrow Donor Registry of the Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service (BTS), was held recently on September 19, recognising 53 enthusiastic bone marrow donors for their selfless contributions. The BTS calls on more citizens to join in saving lives by registering for bone marrow donation, enabling more patients to receive a second chance at life.

     The ceremony was officiated by the Under Secretary for Health, Dr Cecilia Fan; the Deputy Director of Health of Macao, Dr Cheang Seng-ip; the Chairman of the Hospital Governing Committee of the Hong Kong Red Cross Blood Transfusion Service and the Governing Sub-committee of the Hong Kong Bone Marrow Donor Registry, Mr Ignatius Chan; the Chairperson of Hong Kong Red Cross, Dr Lau Chor-chiu; and the Chairman of the Hong Kong Marrow Match Foundation, Professor Chiu Tsang Hok-wan.

     Dr Fan expressed the sincerest gratitude to all donors on behalf of the patients in her opening remarks. Dr Fan said, "Bone marrow donors have willingly extended a helping hand to patients, influencing lives with their own lives. This act of kindness transcends geographical boundaries and exemplifies the spirit of selfless dedication. I hope more members of the public will register as bone marrow donors, giving more patients in need a chance to recover."

     A first meeting between a pair of bone marrow recipient and donor was arranged at the ceremony for sharing their genuine experiences of donation and bone marrow transplantation. The recipient, Ms Tse, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia in 2023. After experiencing recurrent unstable conditions, she sought an unrelated bone marrow donation through the Hong Kong Bone Marrow Donor Registry in 2024, and received a bone marrow donation from Mr Liu in April 2024. She expressed her special gratitude to the donor, Mr Liu, saying, "I am very grateful to him for giving me the hope of a new life!"

     Mr Liu, who belongs to Generation Z, is a regular blood donor who registered as a bone marrow donor during his university years. He recalled that upon receiving a notification of a bone marrow match, he fully appreciated that was a precious opportunity ordained by fate and immediately agreed without hesitation to lend a helping hand, ultimately succeeding in saving Ms Tse's life.

     The human leukocyte antigen (HLA) of donor and recipient must be highly or completely matched for a successful transplantation. "The BTS helped patients requiring unrelated transplantation search for any potentially matched donor in the database. In general, the chance of finding a matching unrelated donor is about one in five thousand to one in ten thousand only. The odds will be even less than one in one hundred thousand for patients who have rare HLA type," the Chief Executive and Medical Director of the BTS, Dr Lee Cheuk-kwong added. He hoped to see more young people register as bone marrow donor to increase the chance for finding a matched donor for patients.

     The world's first Chinese-based unrelated bone marrow donor registry was founded in Hong Kong in 1991. As of June this year, over 193 000 people in Hong Kong have registered as voluntary bone marrow donors, successfully finding suitable haematopoietic stem cells for transplantation for 1 259 local and 142 overseas patients.

     Members of the public aged between 18 and 45 and in good health condition can register for bone marrow donation at any blood donor centre. The simple registration process includes completing a registration form, followed by a health screening and taking blood samples for laboratory tests. For information on bone marrow donation, please call 2710 1206 or visit the website at www.ha.org.hk/rcbts.

Ends/Tuesday, September 22, 2026
Issued at HKT 11:22

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