A total of 143 bone marrow donations have been made in North China's Shanxi province since 2015, when the Shanxi branch of the China Marrow Donor Program (CMDP) was set up, according to an announcement made at a forum held by the Shanxi branch of CMDP in Taiyuan, on Sept 16, to honor the third World Marrow Donor Day.

In addition, there are a total of 85,000 volunteers who have signed up with CMDP to be future organ donors. The ages of the donors in Shanxi province range from 19 to 51 years old.

"Ever since 2001 when CMDP restarted, there has been a rapid increase in both volunteers who have signed up as future organ donors, as well as people donating hematopoietic stem cells," said Zuo Tong, director of the Shanxi branch of CMDP.

"By Aug 31, a total of 2.36 million organ donors had been registered with CMDP, and 6,705 donations of hematopoietic stem cells had been made across the country," she added.

"But still, China is seeing tens of thousands of people who are diagnosed with blood disease every year, over 50 percent of whom are children. Most of them could have survived if they were able to find a suitable bone marrow donor," she claimed.