Rise in organ donation awareness despite huge demand, Taiwan

Taipei, Nov. 22 (CNA) A nationwide organ donation campaign has resulted in more Taiwanese signing donor cards, an organ donation and transplantation organization said Monday, but the increase has had trouble keeping up with number of potential recipients.

"Right now, we have an average of 200 people giving their organs each year, but that's not enough to meet the demands of 7,000 organ transplant candidates, " said Liu Chia-chi, deputy chief executive officer of the Taiwan Organ Registry and Sharing Center, at an event held to praise those promoting organ donation.

When asked why Taiwanese people responded so poorly to the concept of donating organs, Liu said it was hard to isolate one single reason.

"More often than not, the young generation deems the issue rather remote and the elderly regard it as inauspicious to talk about death while alive," Liu said.

"Local religion even plays a role in it, " the executive said, noting that for some, bodies of the deceased cannot be moved within eight hours of death, because any movement would disturb spirits preparing to drift from the corpse to another world.

Also, most appropriate donors are accidental victims of cerebral death, and relatives are too shocked by the incidents to contemplate giving away the organs of their loved ones, said Liu, who encouraged the public to discuss organ donation with family members while healthy and alive.

Tsai Chien-ho, chief of the Surgical Intensive Care Unit at National Yang-ming University Hospital's Yilan branch, said many suitable donors were often young people killed in accidents, complicating the problem.

Based on his clinical experience, Tsai said, the young victims' parents were unable to bear the thought of cutting their sons or daughters into pieces, especially if they did not express their willingness to do so before death.

This is why the organization has extended organ donation education to elementary school students in the hope of raising their awareness about the meaning of life, Liu said.

"Registering oneself as a potential donor is responsible behavior and symbolizes one's passion toward life, " said Tsai, countering the traditional ehavior and symbolizes one's passion toward life, " said Tsai, countering the traditional belief that talking about death entails bad fortune. (By Nancy Liu) ENDITEM/ls