Controversy over Shenzhen People's Hospital using helicopter to transfer lung source to 73 year old patient for surgery, multiple parties respond
Recently, the news that Shenzhen People's Hospital successfully completed a lung transplant surgery for a 73 year old man by transporting organs from Guangzhou via helicopter has attracted a lot of attention.
Transport helicopter source: Shenzhen People's Hospital official website
According to the Shenzhen Special Zone News, on the morning of July 14th, a helicopter took off from Zhongshan First Affiliated Hospital and took 33 minutes to transport lungs to Shenzhen People's Hospital. 73 year old patient Lao Yang has been suffering from shortness of breath due to pulmonary fibrosis for many years, and now he is waiting for a matching lung donation from Guangzhou. In order to shorten the cold ischemia time of the supplied lungs, Shenzhen People's Hospital has decided to transport them by helicopter. This is also the first time that lungs have been transported by helicopter in Shenzhen.
At 8:50 am on July 14th, Lao Yang entered the operating room and was anesthetized in advance, waiting for the arrival of the donor lung. At 9:37, a helicopter carrying donor lungs took off from Zhongshan First Affiliated Hospital and landed on the apron of Shenzhen People's Hospital 33 minutes later. The hospital has opened all green channels, including each elevator, access control, and other facilities. Doctors can quickly reach the operating room with their lungs in insulated boxes.
At this point, multidisciplinary medical personnel such as thoracic surgery, anesthesia, critical care medicine, respiratory and critical care, emergency department, operating room, and OPO are ready. At 16:15, with the last surgical thread successfully suturing the wound, the transplantation surgery was successfully completed.
The Xiaoxiang Morning Post reporter noticed that there are many negative doubts about this matter online. Is applying for such a seamless process a normal procedure or a special privilege? "Multiple netizens expressed.
The relevant articles published on the official website of Shenzhen People's Hospital present more details
For the use of helicopter transportation, the article states:
The utilization rate of lungs has always been at a low level in organ donation, and one important reason for this is the transportation problem. As a hospital that has successfully completed lung transplantation, a highly difficult surgery, Shenzhen People's Hospital has chosen to use helicopter transportation to shorten the transportation time in order to improve the quality of surgery and reduce the impact of transportation on organ transplantation quality and safety.
The entire transportation process was very smooth. After obtaining the lung source, we immediately boarded the helicopter and set off. At the same time, Shenzhen People's Hospital has opened all green channels, including every elevator, access control and other facilities, so the road is smooth and the lung source is quickly transported to the operating room Introduction by Li Xiang, Director of Air Logistics and Medical Services at the Rescue Division of Shenzhen Eastern General Aviation Co., Ltd.
It is understood that Shenzhen, as one of the most important pilot cities for low altitude economy, has significant advantages in aviation rescue, which can help more end-stage patients obtain opportunities for lung transplantation and also play a significant role in promoting the development of Shenzhen's transplantation industry
Surgical process diagram source: Shenzhen People's Hospital official website
For pulmonary origin, the article states:
The most crucial aspect of lung transplantation surgery is the matching of the donor lungs. Patients often have to register and queue up first, waiting for a suitable lung source. Some people are lucky enough to be matched in a week, while others wait for months or even 1-2 years.
According to data, in 2015, 2766 patients in China donated organs and 7566 organs were transplanted. However, the utilization rate of organs is still not high. A patient should have 6 organs in principle, which can save 6 people. However, a patient can only use an average of 2.6 organs, which is still far from the international standard of 3.5-4 organs.
On July 14th, two lung transplant surgeries were performed at Shenzhen People's Hospital. In two lung transplant surgeries, one lung source comes from Shenzhen and the other lung source comes from Guangzhou
The lung source from Guangzhou was provided to 73 year old patient Lao Yang, who is from Heilongjiang and has been hospitalized at Shenzhen People's Hospital for several months. The lung source from Shenzhen was provided to a 64 year old patient named Uncle Yin. Uncle Yin comes from Dalian and came to Shenzhen People's Hospital for treatment.
To ensure the quality of the supplied lungs, two lung transplant surgeries were performed on the same day and were successfully completed almost simultaneously.
The picture shows the surgical site. Source: Shenzhen People's Hospital official website
On July 22nd, a reporter from Xiaoxiang Morning Post also called the Propaganda Department of Shenzhen People's Hospital regarding the online dispute. The staff stated that they have noticed the online public opinion and that the Shenzhen Municipal Health Commission needs to respond to the subsequent content verification and investigation.
The staff of the Shenzhen 12345 hotline told the Xiaoxiang Morning Post reporter that currently the hotline of the National Health Commission is taken over by 12345, and the situation reported by the reporter has been registered and fed back to the functional departments.
