Vietnam's organ transplants are approaching the world, but are still "held back"

The conference was attended by more than 500 delegates who are leading experts, doctors and researchers at home and abroad. Dr. Duong Duc Hung, Director of Viet Duc Hospital, said that organ transplantation is the most complex medical technique, requiring the smooth coordination of many specialties at a very high level, from resuscitation, anesthesia, surgery, to pharmacology and post-transplant care.

If in the past, the level of organ transplant in Vietnam was only at the level of developing countries, now many organ transplant techniques have approached the level of developed countries. In particular, thanks to improvements in procedures and techniques at Viet Duc Hospital, the liver transplant time has been shortened from 12 - 14 hours to only 6 - 7 hours.

Organ transplantation in Vietnam has made great strides to catch up with the world.

According to the Ministry of Health , up to now, the organ transplant field in Vietnam has performed 6 human body parts transplants, with more than 9,800 transplants, mainly kidney transplants with 8,904 cases, liver transplants with 754 cases, heart transplants with 126 cases, lung transplants with 13 cases... and hundreds of tissue transplants (cornea, skin, stem cells...).

Currently, not only large hospitals such as Viet Duc, 108, 103, Cho Ray, and Hue Central perform organ transplants, but many provincial hospitals, even in remote areas, have also performed organ transplants.

Dr. Duong Duc Hung speaks at the conference

However, organ donation and transplantation activities in our country are facing major institutional barriers. The Law on Donation, Removal, and Transplantation of Human Tissues and Organs and Corpse Donation, issued in 2007, is outdated compared to reality, and many provisions have become barriers to development.

"Current law stipulates that children are not allowed to donate organs, even in special medical cases where parents agree to donate to save others," Dr. Duong Duc Hung cited and said that it is time to amend the law to conform to medical reality and social ethics, creating a more complete and flexible legal corridor for organ transplant activities.

In addition, the regulation on family consent, even though the deceased had registered to donate organs while alive, but the current regulation still requires the consent of relatives, so this is the biggest barrier that causes many precious organs to be buried instead of saving people. Therefore, Dr. Duong Duc Hung proposed that Vietnam should learn from the model of developed countries, when a person has registered to donate organs, it will be absolutely recognized, without the need for family consent.

KHANH NGUYEN

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/ghep-tang-viet-nam-tiem-can-the-gioi-nhung-van-bi-niu-chan-post821238.html