Two Vietnamese citizens have registered to donate their lungs to a British pilot who is severely ill due to complications arising from the coronavirus, Vietnam News has reported.
The woman, 40, and man, 70, contacted medical authorities when they heard about the British man’s situation, the National Co-ordination Centre for Human Organ Transplantation said Wednesday.
The director of the transplant center Nguyen Hoang Phuc said the 40-year-old woman did not know the donor but felt she has been very fortunate over the years, so felt it was her duty to help.
The 70-year old man, from Dak Nong Province, said he was proud of Vietnam’s response the coronavirus pandemic, the report said.
“The transplant for Patient 91 will still depend on the doctors. If the patient has to undergo a lung transplant, the first choice will still be to seek donations from patients who have experienced cessation of brain activity. However, we will still take living donors into consideration,” Phuc said.
The family of a third potential donor also put themselves forward but the lung involved was not in suitable condition.
The pilot is Vietnam’s 91st coronavirus patient and one of the country’s most severe sufferers, with 90% lung damage, the Ho Chi Minh City Hospital for Tropical Diseases said. His current condition makes it difficult for oxygen to reach his blood.
On Tuesday the Ministry of Health said the only way they could save the patient was if he was to have a lung transplant.
The coronavirus has infected 4.3 million people worldwide in over 200 countries and regions, killing over 298,000.
Vietnam has recorded no deaths so far.
