The number of organs donated by people after death is expected to double this year to more than 100, the Shanghai branch of the Red Cross Society of China said yesterday.
Despite the increase, the supply of human organs in the city remains far below demand, the charity said.
"It's a challenging job to encourage Chinese people to donate their organs because doing so goes against a lot of traditional beliefs," said Tang Zhaoxiang, vice director of the Shanghai Human Organ Donation Office, which was set up by the city's health authority and Red Cross branch.
The shortfall is due mostly to the government's decision to stop using organs from executed prisoners — a policy that came into effect this year — as these used to account for about half the total supply.
Since the launch of a donation and distribution program in Shanghai in early 2013, about 4,500 people have registered for the scheme and 380 organs — 202 kidneys, 94 livers and 84 corneas — have been harvested from 106 donors after death, the Red Cross said.
While the number of donors in the city has been rising steadily — from five in 2013, to 55 last year and 46 so far this year — there remains a huge shortfall.
Former Health Minister Huang Jiefu said earlier that China has the lowest organ donation rate in the world, at 0.6 donors for every million citizens. In comparison, Spain has 37 donors per million.
"We are working hard to educate people and to make it easier to register for the scheme," Tang said.
The donation office sought to have donor information incorporated into people's driving licenses, but this was blocked for legal reasons, he said.
Shanghai has 11 hospitals that are licensed to conduct organ transplants, and specialists are available at all of them to talk to people who are interested in becoming donors, said Dr Chen Xiaosong, a liver specialist at Renji Hospital and a coordinator for the donation scheme.
"We encourage anyone who is thinking of becoming a donor to talk to one of our consultants," he said.
For He Zelian, the mother of a 14-month-old girl who died last year, knowing her daughter's liver and kidneys were used to give new life to other youngsters was very comforting.
"It's like she is living on inside the other children's bodies," she said.
