China has recorded 18,433 voluntary organ donors, who donated 52,213 organs, from 2010 to mid-July this year.

The numbers were released by the Chinese Medical Doctor Association, organizer of the Chinese Transplant Congress held Friday in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

Zheng Shusen, vice president of the association, said that despite much progress achieved over the past years, China should further promote organ donation to benefit more patients in the future.

"We hope that more people will join the great cause to let love continue," said Yang Jiayin, head of the organ transplant center at Sichuan University's West China Hospital.

China should improve medical insurance for organ recipients to reduce their financial burden, said Huang Jiefu, director of the China National Organ Donation and Transplantation Committee.

The country began a voluntary organ donation trial in 2010 and promoted the practice across the country in 2013. Voluntary donation is the only legitimate source for transplants after organ trading was criminalized in 2011 and the use of organs from executed prisoners was banned in 2015.

Guo Yanhong, an official with the National Health Commission, said last month that China is expected to become the country with the most organ donors by 2020.

In China, about 300,000 patients need organ transplants each year.

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