Renji Hospital celebrates 20 years as leading transplant center
Renji Hospital, which is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its liver surgery department, now a leading center for children's liver transplants, has stressed the need for further donations to help poor children receive surgery.
By teaming up with China Soong Ching Ling Foundation, a charity project has collected nearly 50 million yuan (US$7.13 million) from various companies since 2013 and helped 943 poor children enjoy their new lives.
Dr Xia Qiang, president of Renji, expressed his gratitude to the foundation and all donors and called for more social support to help children in need.
Dr Xia Qiang (center) and his team during liver transplant surgery.
Since it began carrying out children's liver transplants in 2006, Renji Hospital has completed over 3,600 such surgeries, ranking No. 1 in the world for 11 consecutive years. The one-year survival rate is 94 percent and five-year survival rate 91 percent.
"It is quite a tough route through which we have grown from a small department with only seven doctors and 10 nurses. Now, we are the world's biggest children's liver transplant medical center, attracting international patients for treatment and doctors and nurses from the US, UK, Belgium, Finland, Japan, South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia for training," he said.
"Our department has become a name card of Shanghai and even China's liver surgery department with international recognition."
Renji Hospital is one of the 13 leading public hospitals named as a "Shanghai International Medical Tourism Pilot Institution of Public Hospital" to step up efforts in offering international medical tourism products and streamlined health services.
As reported in local media, Dr Xia Qiang and his team went to Malaysia in 2019 to help doctors there carry out two children's liver transplants by using their parents' donated organs. It was the first such surgery in Malaysia.
