Vietnam's first tissue bank opens in Hanoi

The Tissue Bank, licensed by the Ministry of Health, would receive, store and transport tissue samples, said the hospital's director Tran Binh Giang on Tuesday. 

The bank could also supply tissue samples to medical facilities and similar banks around the world.

Currently Vietnam has only two laboratories which store and research tissues in Hanoi’s Medical University and HCMC’s Pham  Ngoc Thach University of Medicine.

Vietnamese doctors have performed around 1,500 organ transplants since 1992, according to official statistics from the health ministry. That leaves more than 16,000 patients suffering from heart, kidney, liver and lung diseases and more than 6,000 blind people awaiting donations.

The country aims to carry out intestinal, uterine, genital and facial transplants by 2020.

People can register to donate their organs at either Viet Duc Hospital in Hanoi or Cho Ray Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City.