Jiang Mengyun, Wang Yuanyuan

    cheekywang@hotmail.com

    THE Shenzhen branch of China Red Cross Society is the first Red Cross organization to launch organ donations in China and Gao Min, the branch’s organ donation coordinator, likely is No. 1 in China in her field.

    As of the end of last year, Gao had facilitated 87 successful organ donations over the past eight years, more than any other coordinator in the country.

    She also is responsible for promoting organ donation awareness, helping donors and their families sign agreements and helping with cremation.

    “It is not an easy job, particularly in current circumstances. There are tears and hard work behind every successful surgery, and I was once being called ‘the most hateful woman in hospitals’ by many patients and their relatives,” said Gao, a Hunan Province native.

    As a grass-roots coordinator, Gao has very close contact with donors and their families.

    “Many donors don’t want their close relatives to know about their wills. Among the signed agreements, most were not signed by their close relatives,” Gao said. “I can understand why they don’t want their relatives to know because of some emotional factors and Chinese traditions, but it brings us a lot of trouble when the transplant is about to proceed. Many close relatives are opposed to the donation.”

    An organ donation and transplant rule implemented in Shenzhen in 2003 requires organ donations to be agreed upon and signed for by a close relative of the deceased donor.

    According to the Red Cross, nearly 80,000 decedents had signed donation agreements as of the end of 2011, but only about 10,000 had made donations successfully.

    Gao hoped that a better and more transparent system could soon be built to help more people learn about organ donations and donate their bodies in a more efficient way.

    Shenzhen ranks No. 1 among Chinese cities in the number of people registered for multiple organ donations. The city’s branch of the China Red Cross Society has helped 123 people donate cadavers, 587 people donate their corneas and 106 people donate multiple organs.