19-year-old organ donor gives five patients a second chance at life

Doctors at Bai Chay Hospital in Quang Ninh, working with the National Coordination Centre for Human Organ Transplantation and several leading hospitals across the country, successfully completed the organ retrieval and allocation operation late on July 25.

A family's courageous decision

The donor was admitted to Bai Chay Hospital after suffering severe multiple injuries in a traffic accident. Despite intensive emergency treatment and continuous life-support measures, doctors were unable to reverse the catastrophic brain damage.

Following multiple independent medical assessments conducted in accordance with Vietnam's legal and clinical protocols, a hospital medical board confirmed that the patient had been declared brain dead.

Faced with the devastating loss of their son, the family made the extraordinary decision to donate his healthy organs so that others facing life-threatening illnesses could have a chance to survive.

Once the family gave consent, Bai Chay Hospital activated Vietnam's national organ donation and allocation system, allowing transplant teams across the country to begin preparing for surgery.

Intensive care doctors worked through the night to preserve the donor's organs, while transplant teams from several leading hospitals assessed their suitability and coordinated transport within the narrow time window required for successful transplantation.

Five patients receive new hope

Under the allocation plan coordinated by the National Coordination Centre for Human Organ Transplantation, doctors successfully retrieved the donor's heart, liver and both kidneys.

The lungs were evaluated but were not considered suitable for transplantation. The heart was transported to 108 Military Central Hospital for transplantation.

The liver was divided into two grafts, allowing two separate transplant operations to be performed, one at 108 Military Central Hospital and another at the Vietnam National Children's Hospital, with technical support from Vinmec Healthcare System.

The two kidneys were allocated to Hue Central Hospital and Children's Hospital 2 in Ho Chi Minh City.

Thanks to the family's decision, five patients who had been waiting for compatible donor organs were given a new opportunity to continue their lives.

Milestone for Bai Chay Hospital

The operation marked the first successful case of donor-family counseling, multi-organ retrieval and nationwide organ coordination carried out at Bai Chay Hospital.

Hospital officials described the procedure as an important milestone demonstrating the hospital's growing capacity to participate in Vietnam's expanding brain-death organ donation network.

The case also highlighted the effectiveness of the country's national organ allocation system, which enables hospitals across different regions to coordinate rapidly so donated organs can reach recipients within the limited time available for successful transplantation.

With this operation, Bai Chay Hospital became the third hospital in Quang Ninh Province, after Vietnam-Sweden Uong Bi Hospital and Quang Ninh General Hospital, to successfully organise brain-death organ donation and multi-organ retrieval.

Expanding organ donation awareness

According to medical experts, Vietnam continues to face a significant shortage of organ donors despite steadily increasing demand for transplantation.

Thousands of patients with end-stage heart, liver and kidney diseases remain on transplant waiting lists, while the number of brain-death donors is relatively low compared with international standards.

Each successful multi-organ donation therefore represents not only several life-saving transplant opportunities but also an important step toward raising public awareness about organ donation after brain death.

Transplant specialists say a single donor can save multiple lives while improving the quality of life for many more through tissue donation.

200 medical staff perform six overnight transplants from brain-dead donor

VOV.VN - Nearly 200 medical staff at Hue Central Hospital have worked through the night to successfully perform six life-saving tissue and organ transplants from a single brain-dead donor, offering new hope to critically ill patients.