Red Cross clarifies role in organ donation process

The Red Cross Society of China is only responsible for advocating organ donations, providing donors' families with financial relief and commemorating the donor after their death, said Zhao Baige, executive vice-president of the RCSC.

The vital process between organ procurement and distribution is "managed rigorously by government departments", she said in an online interview on Tuesday.

All hospitals qualified to do organ transplants will be required to use the China Organ Transplant Response System for distributing organ donations.

Right now, workers of the RCSC branches in some regions are taking part in finding potential donors and circumventing the online response system to inform hospitals about the donation information.

In 2010, the Ministry of Health started a campaign to encourage provinces to obtain organs from donations instead of death row inmates. The ministry cooperated with the RCSC to carry out the campaign in the hope that a social organization independent from hospitals will help encourage more people to recognize and accept organ donations.