Live long and prosper: Four-month-old HK girl gets a new heart from mainland donor

A successful heart transplant surgery in the early hours on Saturday saw four-month-old baby girl Lai Tsz-hei get a new heart from a mainland donor, marking an operation that involves the smallest heart this city has ever seen. 

It is also the first organ donation between Hong Kong and mainland arranged by the SAR government, despite calls against making use of organs donated by China by the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation. 

Back in November, the Hong Kong Children’s Hospital staged a press conference and said that Lai was suffering from dilated cardiomyopathy and was currently in critical condition. 

Doctors said the baby girl needed to undergo a transplant as soon as possible. Should the transplant turn out to be a successful one, there is an 80 percent chance that the girl could live for another five years or more. 

According to Simon Tang Yiu-hang, Hospital Authority’s Director of Cluster Services, the hospital still failed to find a suitable heart for Lai after making the urgent appeal and proactively contacted China’s National Health Commission. 

On Friday, a kid from mainland sustained a severe head injury and was certified as a brainstem death. Yet, the kid’s heart didn’t match with any mainland recipient. Medics there then contacted the Hong Kong hospital and found that the kid’s heart matched with Lai’s condition, and the heart was swiftly delivered from mainland to Hong Kong the same day. 

The surgery started in the evening on Friday and completed shortly after midnight. 

The hospital’s medical team said Lai is now staying at the intensive care unit and still requires a ventilator and cardiotonic medicine. 

Tang noted Lai’s case is a very special one and every second counts, explaining why her case is handled with the exception of receiving an organ donated from the mainland. 

He continued that authorities of both Hong Kong and mainland followed established procedures to handle this organ donation and the arrangement abided by the law and reasons. 

He added authorities may adopt similar arrangements to help those in need of an organ donation, pending on the patient’s illness, age, and the organ desired. 

Also read: Hong Kong doctors issue urgent appeal for donors as 4-month-old baby girl waits for heart transplant