BEIJING: China is ready to cooperate and exchange its experience with Pakistan in organ transplantation and research for mutual benefits besides serving the people from both the countries, Dr. Wang Haibo, Head of China Organ Transplant Response System (COTRS) said.

“We have around 173 transplant hospitals in China and are willing to exchange our experience with Pakistani surgeons for mutual benefits,” he told APP at the 4th China International Organ Donation Conference recently held in Kunming, capital of southwest China’s Yunnan Province.

He said that China has not been hosting transplant surgeons across the world but the Chinese doctors also go overseas to learn from the international colleagues and exchange experience and research.

Dr. Wang said that as China and Pakistan enjoy a very good friendship, hence a number of doctors from Pakistan also visit China and share their experience in heart, liver and kidney transplantation.

He mentioned about the Chinese paramedical team deployed in the Pak-China Friendship Hospital in the port city of Gwadar for medical treatment to local patients.

About the organ distribution system in China, he remarked that international organ transplant specialists have applauded China’s significant achievements in reforming and standardizing its organ donation and transplantation system.

China completed a total of 6,302 organ donations in 2018, ranking second in the world, according to the Report on Organ Transplantation Development in China.

The report, compiled by China Organ Transplantation Development Foundation says the numbers from 2015 to 2017 were 2,766, 4,080 and 5,146 respectively.

The increase of voluntary donations has reflected the progress the country has made in organ donation and transplantation over the past decade.

In May 2007, the State Council issued the Human Organ Transplantation Regulations. In 2011, the Amendment of the Criminal Law made it clear that organ trafficking was a serious crime, providing legal guarantee for the crackdown on related illegal acts.

The year 2015 was a milestone, when China stopped using the organs of executed criminals and began to rely only on voluntary donors.

The conference brought together more than 1,000 specialists from home and abroad to discuss the development of organ donation and transplantation in China and how to deepen international cooperation in the area.