At present, the publicity and education on organ donation in China is not strong enough and its coverage is not wide enough. The public does not understand the significance, process and policy of organ donation, and even has misunderstandings and prejudices.
Zhu Tongyu Image source: WeChat official account of Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University
Interface News reporter | Chen Yang
Interface News Editor | Xie Xin
in the country, organ transplantation has always faced the problem of insufficient donors.
On March 4, the 2025 National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference were officially held. Interface News learned that Zhu Tongyu, a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and vice president of the Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, suggested strengthening the publicity and education of organ donation and the popularization of knowledge in China.
Organ transplantation is the transfer of viable donor organs to the patient’s body through surgery to replace organs that have lost their functions. For patients with end-stage renal disease, kidney transplantation is the preferred treatment option when feasible. For patients with end-stage diseases such as the liver, heart, and lungs, organ transplantation is often the only effective treatment method. If the transplant is not carried out in time, most patients will die in the short term.
Since 2015, the source of transplant organs has begun to transform in China, and voluntary donations from citizens have become the only legal source of domestic organ transplants. Although the number of organ donations and transplant operations are both increasing, the number of organ donors is still far less than the demand for transplant waiting lists.
Public data shows that in 2020, the organ donation rate in the United States was about 38 per million people, and the supply-demand ratio of organ transplantation was about 1:4; the organ donation rate after the death of Chinese citizens was about 3.6 per million people, and the supply-demand ratio of organ transplantation was about 1:30.
Zhu Tongyu has been engaged in kidney transplantation for more than 30 years and is an expert in organ transplantation. He told Jiemian News that if the organ donation rate per million people in China can reach half of that in the United States, that is, about 20 per million people, the annual donation volume in China can reach more than 100,000, which can basically solve the problem of donor shortage.
But the current problem is that, on the one hand, influenced by traditional concepts, some people in the public are resistant to organ donation. On the other hand, the publicity and education of organ donation in China is not strong enough and the coverage is not wide. The public does not understand the meaning, process and policy of organ donation, and even has misunderstandings and prejudices.
For example, the Anhui Huaiyuan case of 11 cases of illegal organ removal from corpses and the “inducement of organ donation” storm at Wuhan Tongji Hospital have attracted public attention.
Although Wuhan Tongji Hospital later issued a statement to clarify that the relevant departments have verified that the online rumor that the hospital’s doctors “induced and forced organ donation” is false information, the public still has doubts about organ donation.
Therefore, Zhu Tongyu suggested that domestic organ donation publicity and education and knowledge popularization should be strengthened to increase the public’s awareness and participation in organ donation.
Specifically, he hopes to incorporate organ donation publicity and education and knowledge popularization into the national strategy from the top-level design; incorporate organ donation knowledge into the national education system, establish an authoritative science popularization platform based on medical institutions, the Red Cross and other institutions, and strengthen medical staff training.
At the same time, create a diversified publicity platform, create high-quality publicity works, and create a good social atmosphere to encourage the public to participate in organ donation, including establishing and improving a reward mechanism and a care mechanism for the families of organ donors. In addition, strengthen international cooperation and learn from advanced foreign experience.
Zhu Tongyu gave an example that most states in the United States will register citizens’ willingness to donate organs when they receive their driver’s licenses. Although willingness does not mean that they must donate at that time, it reflects a good social atmosphere.
In fact, the institutional construction in the field of organ donation and transplantation in China is also constantly developing. On May 1, 2024, the latest “Regulations on Human Organ Donation and Transplantation” came into effect.
Article 13 stipulates that the state shall strengthen publicity and education on human organ donation and popularize knowledge, and promote the formation of a social trend conducive to human organ donation. News media should carry out public welfare publicity on human organ donation.
Article 20 stipulates that the allocation of body organs shall meet medical needs and follow the principles of fairness, justice and openness. If a patient applies for a human organ transplant surgery, his spouse, direct blood relatives or collateral blood relatives within three generations who have donated body organs shall be given priority under the same conditions.
