Construction of what will be Asia?s largest organ transplant center was launched Wednesday in the port city of Tianjin, north China.
The Organ Transplant Center of the Tianjin No. 1 Municipal Central Hospital announced it will perform transplants of such organs and tissues as liver, kidneys, pancreas, bone, skin, hair and liver cells. Liver transplant will be its primary service.
The center under construction will cover 3,000 square meters (3,588 square yards) with a floor space of 30,000 square meters (35,880 square yards) and 500 beds.
The hospital conducted a successful liver transplant in 1994 for Zhao Zhenhai, a 36-year-old farmer from neighboring Hebei Province.
Zhao survived the operation and is still running his farm, becoming the longest-surviving liver transplant patient on the Chinese mainland.
The hospital has performed about 500 liver transplants, and 95 percent of the patients lived for at least one year after the operation, a length of time the hospital claims is typical for 78 percent of patients with late-stage liver cancer who undergo the procedure.
(Xinhua News Agency November 7, 2002)
