China's preferred donor standard: Cardiac death

Edited and translated by People's Daily Online

China will popularize organ donation after cardiac death as a nationwide standard for organ transplants across the country starting in 2012, a senior official said on Nov. 17.

After long-term preparations and discussions by China's organ transplant academic circle, the Ministry of Health has entrusted the Red Cross Society of China to undertake human organ donation and procurement pilot work, Vice Health Minister Huang Jiefu said.

If hospitals fail to implement the cardiac death standard over the next two years, their organ transplant qualifications will be withdrawn.

China has yet to establish a national cadaver organ donation system, so citizens will have no way to donate their organs after death. Given a lack of brain death legislation in China, citizens are entitled to independently choose death standards when it comes to organ donation work.

The authorities have still selected cardiac death as a uniform death standard and will popularize the cardiac and formulate related standards that are consistent with China's conditions, Huang said.