Because many Chinese families prefer to invoke age-old burial traditions, even if the deceased has expressly stated prior to death willingness to donate an organ or the entire corpse to science, Guangzhou recently passed a law that bypassed family consent.

The move aims to cut the severe cadaver shortage in Chinese medical school as well as organs that could be harvested for transplant. Previously, the consent of all direct relatives must be obtained before a body is donated.

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Ouyang Binghui, vice head of the Red Cross Society of Guangzhou, stresses, "Tne new rule states clearly that a donor can decide about his own body," quotes Xinhua.

Several Chinese cities have adopted the family consent provision which has resulted in failed donations because families often invoke tradition and even override the wishes of the deceased person. That tradition states the body must remain complete after death.

The new rule also makes it legal for institutions such as nursing homes to donate the body of seniors who agreed to donation and have no children or wife or husband to carry out their wishes.

Despite the traditional mindset, voluntary organ donation is actually surging in China, reports Spyghana.

According to Huang Jiefu, head of a national organ human organ donation and transplant committee, almost 1,000 body parts were donated by 381 Chinese in January and February 2015, twice the number compared to the same period in 2014.

The growing change in attitude toward organ and body donation helps make up for the ban on harvesting of prisoners' organs at the start of 2015. Huang, who said the practice was an option China had to take reluctantly due to a lack of a voluntary donation system before 2009, said the practice compromised the country's human rights credentials and made it vulnerable to criticisms from the international community.

Following the expansion of an organ donation system that started in select areas in 2010 to nationwide, many provinces reported a boost in organ transplant surgeries or donations such as Jiangsu which had 55 successful organ donations in 2014. While Yunnan had 44 organ transplants since 2010 and five in February and March.

Tagsorgan donation, Guangzhou