HCM City (VNS/VNA) - Over the 30 years since performing its first kidneytransplant from a living donor, Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City hasconsistently developed expertise in organ transplantation, helping prolong andimprove the lives of thousands of people.

It then performed the country’s first successful kidney transplant from a braindead donor in 2008.

It has done more than 1,060 kidney transplants in the past 30 years, withorgans taken from deceased donors accounting for only 5%, Assoc Prof Thai MinhSam, head of the hospital’s department of urology, said.

Complex procedures such as living paired-kidney exchange transplant andABO-incompatible living-donor kidney transplant have also been successfullyconducted, helping more and more patients with kidney disease to get atransplant, he said.

“The hospital has successfully performed all [known] kidney transplantprocedures.”

Kidney transplant recipients have had more than 300 babies subsequently in thepast 30 years, he added.

Dr Pham Thanh Viet, head of the hospital’s general planning department, saidkidney, liver, heart, bone marrow, and corneal transplants and skin grafts havebeen done.

The hospital plans to send doctors to developed countries to learn lung andintestine transplant procedures, he said.

Organ procurement and transplantation network

More than 1,110 organ transplant surgeries have been conducted so far at thehospital, including nine heart transplants, Dr Du Thi Ngoc Thu, head of theorgan transplantation coordination unit, said.

But transplants from living donors accounted for more than 95%, she said.

There is a severe shortage of deceased donors, she said.

“The demand for organs continues to exceed supply, and many people waiting fora transplant die every day.

“A single organ donor can save seven to eight lives.”

In Vietnam, thousands of people need an organ transplant every year whilehospitals only get organ donations from around 10 brain-dead people, accordingto the National Coordination Centre for Organ Transplantation.

In 2018, Cho Ray Hospital, Thong Nhat Hospital and Children’s Hospital No.2signed an agreement for the allocation of donated kidneys for transplants undera project aimed at increasing potential donors and prevent organ traffickingfrom living donors.

The project developed the first organ procurement and transplantation networkin the city.

The country’s first software waiting list registry and organ donation,management, allocation, and transplant was launched last year as part of theproject.

Between 2020 and 2022, it received 19,983 registrations for organ donationsafter death, thrice the number in the previous three years.

Ensuring transparency and fairness in organ allocation at local and nationallevels is critical, Thu said.

The network would continue to expand to take in other organ transplant centersin the country, she added.

Doctors at Children’s Hospital No.2 successfully transplanted a kidney in achild with end-stage kidney disease with the donor being a brain-dead adult.

The the National Coordination Center for Organ Transplantation and Cho RayHospital allocated the kidney from the young brain death donor to theChildren’s Hospital No.2 under the system allocation criteria.

The Children’s Hospital No.2 has performed 25 liver, 24 kidney and five stemcell transplants so far, Dr Trinh Huu Tung, its director, said.

It now performs liver and kidney transplant surgeries without assistance from foreignspecialists, he added./.