China is building a system to register all liver and kidney transplants, Vice Health Minister Huang Jiefu said in Beijing on Thursday.

All facilities that carry out such operations will have to join as part of an effort to ensure the fairness and orderliness of transplants, he said.

Huang made the remarks at a conference marking the formation of the editorial board of the Chinese version of Transplantation, the official journal of the Transplantation Society. Huang will be editor-in-chief.

According to Huang, China is now second only to the United States in the number of organ transplants done yearly, with about 10,000.

However, there are 1 million kidney patients undergoing dialysis and 300,000 die of liver failure in China every year. About 1.5 million people need organs and tissues every year.

"China is the country that most needs organ supplies," he said.

He urged the journal to carry more articles on ethical studies of organ transplants to raise public awareness and carry advanced, authoritative clinical and research information.

(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2009)