An online organ donation registry will be launched by the Red Cross Society of China on April 2 to improve public access to organ donations for life-saving transplants and to raise awareness.

The registry, held by the society's China Organ Donation Administrative Center, will only deal with voluntary organ donations after death.

Anyone aged 18 and over can sign up to become an organ donation volunteer by following instructions on the website.

“The registry website will help enhance access for the public to become volunteers for organ donation,” said Hao Linna, the society's vice-president.

Previously, people usually had to go to local Red Cross branches to sign up to become volunteers, which was not as convenient as the website, Hao added.

The registry is also open to foreigners. The personal information required includes name, gender, nationality, ID details and contact numbers.

About 300,000 Chinese need organ transplants, but only 10,000 could finally receive one, largely because of a severe shortage of organ donations, according to statistics from the National Health and Family Planning Commission.

The commission (then the Ministry of Health) and the Red Cross launched a national public organ donation system in 2010.

The Red Cross is mainly responsible for promoting and raising public awareness of organ donation after death, witnessing and supervising organ procurement and distribution, and commemorating organ donors.

Last month, the National Health and Family Planning Commission and District 3450 of Rotary International, a worldwide charity organization, launched a similar online registry of organ donation volunteers.