With Hong Kong’s low number of registered organ donors, is it time to adopt an opt-out system for donation?
- City lags behind others in the number of registered donors relative to population, and lack of awareness contributes to misconceptions
- Hong Kong only has six donors per million people, compared with 23 in Britain, 32 in the US and 47 in Spain
Life was put on hold for Hongkonger Phan Thanh Vinh when he was diagnosed with heart failure at the age of 17.
“It was an awkward phase because I hadn’t completed my education or thought about a career. I didn’t even have the energy to play video games to pass the time,” says Phan, now 22.
The son of Vietnamese parents, Phan underwent multiple operations early in life for his congenital heart condition, allowing him to grow up relatively normally.
But during the summer before he started Form Five, his health took a turn.
“I felt the need to stay home and didn’t go out to play,” he recalls. “I thought I was just being lazy, but when I tried walking up the stairs on the first day of school, I just couldn’t.”
He was diagnosed with heart failure, and his only hope was a transplant. Phan waited five years, before successful transplant surgery last September. For Phan, life is slowly returning to normal.
