Heartless organ-donation disrupters slammed

An "abnormally high" 5,785 withdrawal of names from people in line to become organ donors from Hong Kong's registry were recorded in the past five months.

This comes amid talks on a cross-border transplant mechanism after a four-month-old girl received a heart from a mainland donor last December.

But 2,905 of the opt-outs from the Centralized Organ Donation Register, or over half of them, were invalid because prospective donors had never registered for transplants or had made repeated attempts of opting out.

Still, the registry recorded 5,091 opt-ins between last December and last month, meaning a net growth of 2,211 donors.

The unusual phenomenon was disclosed by the Bureau of Health yesterday, which hit at "a small number of individuals [who] distorted the virtue and altruistic value of devotion in organ donation on the internet."

The bureau said the people trying to disrupt the program pressed prospective donors to try to find the identities of recipients.

"Some individuals also wantonly vilified the constructive significance of the proposed establishment of a standing mutual assistance mechanism for transplants, undoubtedly despising the inseparable ties between citizens of Hong Kong and the mainland," it went on,.

"These individuals disregard completely the well-being of patients awaiting organ transplants."

Hong Kong's organ donation register was established in 2008, and more than 357,000 people have signed up since.

While authorities recorded 5,785 withdrawals between last December and last month, the percentage of drop-outs by people who had never signed up to become donors or made repeated opt-out efforts was as high as 78 percent just in February.

"It cannot be ruled out that a small number of people have intentionally made withdrawal attempts with the aim of disrupting [the CODR] and increasing the administrative burden on government personnel," the bureau said. "The government strongly condemns such utterly irresponsible behavior."

Currently, organ donors and their family members are not allowed to designate specific recipients or request identity screening.

A four-month-old girl, Cleo Lai Tsz-hei, who suffered from heart failure underwent a successful heart transplant from a Shenzhen girl donor in December after no suitable recipient in the database matched.

The bureau and the Hospital Authority are in talks to set up a "second-tier" program to match donors and recipients across the border.

Hong Kong Patients' Voices head Alex Lam Chi-yau, said the deregistrations showed people have concerns about the proposed cross-border mechanism.

"For example, who will be in charge of making sure Hong Kong has no suitable recipients before referring a donor to the north?" he said

Lam suggested authorities include patient groups, in particular those representing organ recipients including heart, kidney and cornea as watchdogs in the program, to boost people's confidence.

Hong Kong has seen fewer donors - both deceased and living - over the past two years. In 2021, 36 deceased and 35 living donors had contributed to transplant numbers. But the numbers dropped to 29 and 23 respectively last year. As of March 31 this year only nine deceased and six living donors had saved lives.

Currently, 80 Hongkongers are waiting for a heart donation and 17 for lung transplants. Both transplants obviously require deceased donors. More than 2,400 are waiting for kidney and 64 liver donations, which can be contributed by living donors too.

jane.cheung@singtaonewscorp.com

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