Voluntary organ donation in China has risen in the past year since a ban on the use of prisoners' organs for transplant came into effect in the beginning of the year.

The head of the National Human Organ Donation and Transplant Committee Huang Jiefu said in a press conference on Sunday that more people are donating their organs for transplant and joining the government's program of enticing citizens to voluntarily donate their organs.

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Huang said that as of Nov. 9 this year, 5,384 voluntary organ donors have been recorded by China with 14,721 various organs donated to hospitals and the recipients.

Huang said that with the outpouring of organ donations, China is expected to top the world in terms of organ donations in the coming years.

"As long as the donation system is transparent, most of citizens will be willing to join the program," he said at a forum held in the city of Changsa.

Huang, however, admitted that the lack of qualified transplant surgeons in China is causing a huge problem for many organ recipients.

He said there are only 169 hospitals across the country that can handle transplant operations and only 100 doctors qualified to conduct transplant operations.

The former vice health minister called on the government to expedite the training of more organ transplant doctors and the expansion of hospitals to be able to meet the demand for transplant operations.

Huang said that in the next several years, the health ministry aims to triple the number of qualified transplant doctors across the country from 100 to 400 and expand the number of hospitals from 169 to 300.

Tagsvoluntary organ donation, transplant doctors, Huang Jiefu, National Human Organ Donation and Transplant Committee, organ recipients, 100 qulified doctors, China Organ Donation