8-month-old Hong Kong infant becomes 2nd patient to receive organ donation from mainland China, gov’t says
Hong Kong Free Press
An eight-month-old infant has undergone heart transplant surgery after receiving Hong Kong’s second organ donation from mainland China, according to the city’s health authorities.
The heart transplant operation on the baby girl, Whitney, was performed on Sunday evening at the Hong Kong Children’s Hospital in Kai Tak, the Health Bureau and the Hospital Authority said in a joint press release issued in the early hours of Monday.
“Since there was no suitable recipient in the Mainland, the Mainland decided to send the donor heart to Hong Kong for transplanting to Whitney upon confirmation by experts from the two places that the heart was suitable for Whitney’s transplantation,” Simon Tang, the director of cluster services of the Hospital Authority, said in the press statement.
He added the operation was approved by the regulatory bodies of mainland China and Hong Kong and complied with the laws in both jurisdictions.
Nicholson Yam, the consultant in charge of cardiothoracic surgery at the Hong Kong Children’s Hospital, said that mainland Chinese transplant experts procured the heart on Sunday, and upon receiving the organ in the evening, doctors in Hong Kong immediately performed the transplant surgery.
Yam, who was also in charge of the operation, said that the surgery lasted for around six and a half hours. He added that the following 24 hours would be a critical period for Whitney, who is now under monitoring in the intensive care unit.
It marked the second time that Hong Kong received an organ donation from the mainland, Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said in the press release.
In December 2022, a four-month-old baby received a heart donation in the first cross-border organ donation from the mainland to Hong Kong.
Lo said more than 100 personnel from 18 mainland Chinese authorities – including the National Health Commission and the Centre for the China Organ Transplant Response System, as well as different levels of Chinese customs – were involved in the procurement and transport of the organ on Sunday.
“The second cross-boundary organ donation case… has demonstrated a more effective cooperation between the mainland and Hong Kong,” Lo said while thanking the mainland authorities.
Whitney’s parents also thanked the authorities and the medical teams in mainland China and Hong Kong, and the donor’s family for their selfless decision, according to the press release.
The parents made a public appeal for a heart donation last year after Whitney was diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, a condition in which the heart enlarges and cannot pump blood effectively, according to local media reports.
The baby had been relying on a biventricular assist device – an implantable pump that helps the heart function in the case of heart failure – in the hospital’s intensive care unit since last October.
Support HKFP | Policies & Ethics | Error/typo? | Contact Us | Newsletter | Transparency & Annual Report | Apps
Help safeguard press freedom & keep HKFP free for all readers by supporting our team
HKFP has an impartial stance, transparent funding, and balanced coverage guided by an Ethics Code and Corrections Policy.
Support press freedom & help us surpass 1,000 monthly Patrons: 100% independent, governed by an ethics code & not-for-profit.