Organ Donation and Transplantation

Organ Procurement Organization (OPO)

In order to increase the rate of organ donations in Taiwan and to comprehensively improve the professional level and overall capacity of the hospital in recruiting organs, the Center has been running the Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) program since 2004, in which the medical centers, by integrating the resources of other regional hospitals and district hospitals, provide consulting and assistance to form OPO networks to jointly promote donation solicitation. In 2013, the Center incorporated 11 OPO organizations across Taiwan into a network of four regions - North, Central, South and East - based on their geographical location, and streamlined the organ recruitment and allocation procedures to cultivate organ donor recruitment expertise and identify potential donors in order to increase the source of donations. Since the implementation of the program, the number of organ donors has gradually grown from less than 100 to 400 per year.

To provide equitable access to organ transplantation nationwide, the Center launched the online organ allocation function of the donation and transplant registry system on April 1, 2005. As of June 2022, over 4,000 donor organ allocation cases had been carried out in hospitals and more than 13,000 transplant candidates had been given the opportunity to receive an organ transplant.

Major Policy Planning for Organ Donation

The development of organ transplantation in Taiwan is in a leading position in Asia. In 1968, a medical team led by Professor Chun-jean Lee of National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) completed the first successful kidney transplant in Asia. Later, Linkou Chang Gung Hospital (CGMH), National Taiwan University Hospital, and Taipei Veterans General Hospital (TVGH) successively completed liver, pancreas, heart, and lung transplants.

Thanks to the progress of medical technology, Taiwan has the capability and quality of transplantation surgery that is on par with advanced countries. To safeguard the legality of organ donation and transplantation, the Human Organ Transplant Act was promulgated in 1987, with the relevant major policies set out below:

Time	Event
1987/06/19	Taiwan promulgated the " Human Organ Transplant Act", becoming the first country in Asia to have an organ transplant law.
2002/02/07	The MOHW established the Taiwan Organ Registry and Sharing Center (TORSC) in 2002 under the Human Organ Transplant Act.
2004/04/01	The Organ Procurement Organization (OPO) network was set up with the aim of increasing the organ donation rate and improving the health of the people through the development of a network in each region.
2004/08/09	Taiwan promulgated the "Criteria for Brain Death Judgment", which identifies hospitals that can judge brain death, including physicians, conditions, procedures, and training courses.
2005/04/01	Organ transplant allocation began to be carried out through the organ donation and transplantation registration system. The priority order of organ transplantation is output by the system according to the allocation principle to prevent human intervention.
2011/12/21	The Human Organ Transplant Act was amended to provide that organ donation willingness be indicated on the NHI Card
2013/01/01	The National Eye Bank of Taiwan (NEBT) was established to keep an eye on the quality of corneas donated to Taiwanese people, so that the quality of the donor's corneas can be better maintained after they are removed.
2013/07/01	The OPO network was divided into four regions, north, central, south, and east. Each district selects a "responsible hospital" to be responsible for coordinating and integrating the organ donation process during the planning period.
2014/09/10	The promulgation of the "Regulations on the Allocation and Management of Human Organ Transplantation" ensures the accuracy and effectiveness of the organ donation and transplantation registration system and database, and realizes the openness, fairness, and transparency of the organ donation and allocation process.
2014/10/01	The "Third Degree of Consanguinity Policy" was implemented so that the spouse or a relative within the third degree of kinship of a donor would have priority in receiving organ donations.
2015/10/19	The Human Organ Transplant Act was promulgated on June 19, 1987, and the MOHW designated June 19 each year as "Organ Donation Day" in Taiwan.
2016/03/01	Access was granted for HIV-positive patients to wait for organ transplant. HIV patients who have regular follow-up treatment, are in good control (low viral load) and are in need of organ transplant can register as organ transplant candidates.
2017/01/01	The National Skin Bank of Taiwan (NSBT) was established to collect, examine, process and preserve skin donations and to maintain quality against international standards.
2017/12/26	The "Reference Guidelines for Organ Donation after Cardiac Death" were promulgated to redress the imbalance between organ supply and demand in Taiwan and to shorten the waiting period for organ transplant.
2018/12/28	For the principles of fairness, ethics and human rights, HIV-infected patients with organ failure are allowed to receive organs from HIV-infected patients.
2019/02/14	The "Regulations for the Administration of Living-Donor Kidney Exchange, Donation and Transplants" was promulgated to expand the accessibility of kidney transplantation for patients waiting for kidney transplantation, and improve the survival rate and quality of life of patients with end-stage renal disease.
2019/09/02	The Taiwan Cord Blood Information System started to be used to increase the usage rate of umbilical cord blood matching and promote medical progress.

Law&Regulations

Human Organ Transplant Act

Organ Donation and Transplantion

Organ Procurement Organization (OPO)

Law&Regulations