Organ Transplantation in China and Beyond: Addressing the ‘Access Gap’

Abstract

While we may be on the verge of a very exciting sci-tech era, many millions of people will fail to benefit from advances, just as millions already fail to reap the benefits of recent and not-so-recent developments in medical practices. An example of such an under-experienced innovation is organ and tissue transplantation, a field in which demand far exceeds supply in virtually every country in the world. This is not because transplant techniques are particularly new, risky, or experimental. On the contrary, they are well understood and becoming routinised. This paper examines the social and cultural factors surrounding the recent implementation of a new legal regime governing transplantation in China. In particular, it considers how far this model can or could address a perennial problem associated with new and emerging (health) technologies, namely equitable access. Currently, very few people benefit from our understanding of, and growing capabilities in, organ and tissue transplantation (as well as other health advances). The paper then considers actions which ought to be taken to improve transplant medicine in China and beyond; actions which could improve public medicine dramatically.