China's organ donations up 30 pct in 2017

BEIJING -- A healthcare official said Tuesday that 4,529 organ donations took place in China this year, a 30 percent increase year on year.

The counts for 2015 and 2016 were 2,766 and 4,080, respectively, according to Guo Yanhong, an official with the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

Guo disclosed the figures while addressing the launching of a campaign to promote donor registrations.

A previous survey found 94 percent of participants willing to register for organ donation, while 46 percent of those who said no were just "unable to access or complete the complicated registration."

China banned the use of organs from executed prisoners in 2015 and made voluntary donation the only legitimate source.