Reason for organ donation opt-outs remains unclear

Jane Cheung

It is too early to determine whether abnormal opt-outs from Hong Kong's registry for organ donors involved illegal acts, Secretary for Justice Paul Lam Ting-kwok says.

That remark came a day after Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu condemned the "shameful" act of people trying to discourage others from organ donation and ordered police to investigate.

Lam said yesterday that authorities are trying to find the reason behind opt-outs of 5,785 prospective donors over five months, though more than half had not signed up for the scheme.

"At this stage we're still trying to understand what has happened," he said. "For now it's too early to make a judgment."

Separately, University of Hong Kong medical dean Wallace Lau Chak-sing said nearly 2,600 people suffering from acute organ failure are waiting for donors.

"I don't know why many people opted out recently," he said, "but I hope they think twice because this can save lives."

And the chairman of Hong Kong Patients' Voices, Alex Lam Chi-yau, said he could not see criminality in opt-outs.

"Organ donation is a profit-less action," he said. "No interests are involved in registration or deregistration as donors. I don't see how dropping out of the scheme constitutes a crime."

But he called on authorities to seek reasons people want to opt out.

"If people have concerns about a mutual assistance scheme for cross-border organ donation the government should step up elaboration and promotion," he said.

"Authorities can consider providing an option for people if they want their organs shared with other jurisdictions," he said, and "donors' wills should be respected."

Liver transplant expert Albert Chan Chi-yan at Queen Mary Hospital said Hong Kong and the mainland will not share data of organ donors under the proposed cross-border scheme, so citizens need not have privacy worries.