Hong Kong’s Hospital Authority (HA) has appealed to mainland Chinese authorities to help locate a lung needed for an urgent donation, while also searching locally. The patient in need of a lung transplant is in a critical condition at the Prince of Wales Hospital, the HA said in a statement released on Monday. Local media outlets reported that a woman in her 29th week of pregnancy developed pulmonary hypertension in September.
She had an emergency caesarean section, but her condition has not improved. “In view of the critical condition of the patient, in addition to proactively searching for suitable lung locally, the HA will also seek assistance from the Mainland through relevant procedures as soon as possible,” the HA said. The HA also appealed to the public to support organ donations and consider donating the lung of a deceased relative.
This is not the first time that Hong Kong has included mainland China in its organ searches. In July, the HA said it was seeking assistance from mainland authorities in relation to a heart transplant for a 50-year-old man with severe heart failure. In March, the HA said it considered asking for help from mainland China to save the life of a 37-year-man suffering from liver failure, local media reported .
Hong Kong and mainland China does not have a cross-boundary mutual assistance mechanism for organ transplants. Such cases are handled on an individual basis. Hong Kong’s government tried to establish such a mechanism last year afte.
