Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/01/09
By: Chen Chi-fong and Flor Wang
Kaohsiung, Jan. 9 (CNA) A Kaohsiung-based surgeon is seeking volunteers to undergo
Photo taken from Pixabay
Taiwan’s first face transplant operation after gaining approval from the central government to do so in November 2018.
Kuo Yur-ren (郭耀仁), director of the Department of Surgery at Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital and the key figure on its face transplant team, told CNA Wednesday he has been looking for volunteers with facial disfigurement to do a transplant since being given the green light by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.
Prior to receiving approval, the hospital had patients ask about the possibility of the procedure last year, but no action was taken because of the lack of a legal basis, Kuo explained.
The concept of face transplants grabbed popular attention in the 1997 thriller Face/Off, leading local media to dub Kuo’s search as an attempt to bring the movie to life in Taiwan, where the procedure has never been done. [FULL STORY]
