China began a voluntary organ donation trial in 2010 and promoted the practice across the country in 2013. [Photo/Xinhua]

An increasing number of Chinese people are signing up for the nation's organ donor plan, with more than 66,000 joining during the past six years, according to the Red Cross Society of China.

And with the growing number of registered organ donors, more and more people are benefiting from transplant surgery.

So far, more than 6,000 people have donated organs after death, helping more than 18,000 patients with terminal organ failure, said Hao Linna, vice-president of the society.

Last year, China ranked first in Asia and third in the world for the number of organ donors, she said on Thursday.

In 2015, the number of people who donated organs in China exceeded 2,700. They donated a total of more than 7,700 organs.

"In the past six years, since China launched its organ donation program and encouraged people to register to donate organs in the event of their death, a scientific and fair organ donation system has been established in China and it is improving steadily," Hao said.

The organ donation system has developed fast since China decided to stop using organs from executed prisoners for transplant surgery on Jan 1 last year, making voluntary donations from citizens the only source, Huang Jiefu, chairman of the National Organ Donation and Transplantation Committee, said earlier this month.

The number of organ donors per million people increased to 2.1 last year, compared with 0.02 in 2010, Huang said.

China has faced a severe shortage of donated organs because of traditional beliefs that many people cannot accept the idea of their body being buried incomplete. Because of the lack of organs, some patients have had to wait for months or even years for suitable organs.

Despite the recent increase in the number of donations, organs are still in short supply, said Hu Shengshou, president of the Fuwai Hospital in Beijing and a heart transplant surgeon.

"There are still patients dying while waiting for organs," he said. "And transplant surgeries are still not covered by the basic medical insurance programs, making them too expensive for some patients to afford."

Chen Jingyu, vice-president of Wuxi People's Hospital, said organ transplant surgeries are among the most effective ways to save lives and improve the quality of life among patients with terminal organ failure.

However, on average only 2.6 organs are used per donor in China, compared with between 3.5 and four in some other countries, he said.

This is because some organs have to be used for surgeries very soon after they are retrieved, otherwise they will be wasted, he said.

"For example, a lung must be transported to a hospital for surgery within eight hours of retrieving it and needs a convenient fast transportation system between different places," he said.

Airlines and airports are now required to provide priority services for transported organs, such as swift security checks for medial staff carrying donated organs, according to a circular released by the Civil Aviation Administration of China in February.