Following is a question by the Dr Hon Pierre Chan and a written reply by the Secretary for Food and Health, Professor Sophia Chan, in the Legislative Council today (June 13):
Question:
Regarding the statistics on organ/tissue transplant operations, will the Government inform this Council whether it knows:
(1) the respective numbers of donors and recipients in respect of the transplant operations, performed in public hospitals in each of the past 10 years on each kind of organs/tissues, including the transplants of liver (living, cadaveric), kidney (living, cadaveric), heart, cornea, skin, bone, bone marrow and lung;
(2) the respective numbers of children and adults receiving various kinds of organ/tissue transplants, as well as the medical expenses incurred for each kind of organ/tissue transplant operations, in each of the past 10 years; and
(3) the details of funding received, in each of the past 10 years, by the specialties/centres responsible for performing organ/tissue transplant operations at the Queen Mary Hospital, Prince of Wales Hospital, Pamela Youde Nethersole Eastern Hospital, Tuen Mun Hospital, Kwong Wah Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Hong Kong Eye Hospital and Grantham Hospital?
Reply:
President,
My reply to the various parts of the Dr Hon Pierre Chan's question is as follows:
(1) The numbers of human organ/tissue donations for transplant handled by the Hospital Authority (HA) from 2008 to 2017 are tabulated below:
| Organ/Tissue Donation (Case) |
2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kidney | ||||||||||
| Cadaveric | 65 | 87 | 74 | 59 | 84 | 70 | 63 | 66 | 60 | 61 |
| Living | 12 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 15 | 12 | 16 | 15 | 18 | 17 |
| Kidney (total) | 77 | 95 | 81 | 67 | 99 | 82 | 79 | 81 | 78 | 78 |
| Liver | ||||||||||
| Cadaveric | 26 | 43 | 42 | 30 | 45 | 38 | 36 | 36 | 37 | 40 |
| Living | 42 | 41 | 53 | 44 | 33 | 34 | 27 | 23 | 36 | 34 |
| Liver (total) | 68 | 84 | 95 | 74 | 78 | 72 | 63 | 59 | 73 | 74 |
| Other organs (Cadaveric) | ||||||||||
| Heart | 6 | 10 | 13 | 9 | 17 | 11 | 9 | 14 | 12 | 13 |
| Double Lung | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 13 | 8 | 12 |
| Single Lung | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Cornea (piece) | 211 | 203 | 250 | 238 | 259 | 248 | 337 | 262 | 276 | 367 |
| Skin | 19 | 17 | 23 | 21 | 6 | 4 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 11 |
| Bone | 1 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| Total | 383 | 411 | 470 | 410 | 465 | 424 | 502 | 443 | 459 | 559 |
Note: Cases of skin and bone transplant are spontaneous and urgent in nature. Substitutes will be used if suitable skin or bone is not available for transplant.
(2) and (3) The HA does not keep a statistical breakdown of organ/tissue recipients by age group.
The HA's organ transplant service is provided in a team approach. Members of the team include Organ Donation Coordinators and multi-disciplinary professionals from specialties such as Medicine, Intensive Care Unit, Surgery, Anaesthesia and laboratories. The scope of service covers care for organ recipients, identification of organ donors, life support for brain-dead patients, counselling for donors' families, organ transplant operations and post-operative care. Hence, separate breakdowns of expenditure on or funding for organ/tissue transplant operations for individual hospitals are not available.
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