Transplants hit by lack of donors

Education could help overcome tradition of bodies being left intact after death

Chen Xinguo, a liver transplant surgeon, used to perform more than 200 liver transplant operations a year in Beijing at the General Hospital of Armed Police Forces, but the number has declined dramatically this year.

"We have only performed about 10 liver transplants since the beginning of the year," Chen said. "But the situation is still better than most other hospitals. Many hospitals in Beijing haven't performed a single organ transplant operation this year because of the lack of donors."