HCM City: Festival honours organ donors

With a message “Life is invaluable, please take a loving care of it”, the festival at the Youth Cultural Centre in Ho Chi Minh City on October 2 was a get-together of people who have donated their organ and tissue, relatives of brain-dead donors, and the receivers.

Minister of Health Nguyen Thi Kim Tien said there are thousands of people in Vietnam who are in need of organ transplant to survive.

She called on people from all walks of life to register to donate organ and tissue when they die as a gift of life for others.

According to the oganising board, over 400 people registered to donate their organ and tissue after they die during a week ahead of the event. In 2015, the similar event held in Hanoi saw the registration of nearly 1,500 people.

Vietnam conducted 1,281 kidney, 54 liver, 16 heart, eight bone marrow, one kidney-pancreas and one heart-lung transplants as of June 15, 2016.