According to Sohu in 2008, Li Leishi, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Director of the PLA Kidney Disease Institute stated that organ donation after death does not have the soil for it to exist in China.
Leishi pointed out that there is a big shortage of organ transplant donors in China and that "organ donation after death" only exists in theory. It cannot be put into practice in China because the conditions aren’t there for its existence. Li further explained that China does not have the same system as foreign countries do, so as to ensure that organ donations after death can effectively proceed. In addition, legal protection is also one of the problems. There is no legal protection in China regarding what criteria should exist to make a decision for organ donation [of brain dead patients].
Li gave his own experience to explain the extent of the organ shortage. He said that, because we are an Institute, the amount of transplant surgery we perform is not that high. In the past, I could do kidney transplants for 120 patients a year; now I can only do 70. Just from my own experience, we now have at least 50 organ shortages per year. The lack of donor organs is the main reason for the reduction in the amount of surgery. Each year, I have more than 200 or even close to 300 patients registered and waiting for surgery, not including those patients blocked from the registration due to economic reasons.
Source: Sohu, November 27, 2008
http://health.sohu.com/20081127/n260870584.shtml