With over 3,500 people on the organ transplant waiting list and only 136 donors last year, the Ministry of Public Health plans to develop 38 state hospitals as support centres for processing organs from brain-dead patients.
It is to also cooperating with eight related agencies to help raise awareness of the need for organ donation, Public Health Minister Pradit Sintawanarong said on Thursday.
He said European countries have an average 20-30 organ donors per one million population per year. In comparison had only 136 donors in 2012, according to the Thai Red Cross Society's Organ Donation Centre, an increase of 26 donors from previous year.
Thailand should have at least 1,000 donors each year based on the country's population, said Mr Pradit. Organ donations in Thailand were only one 15th of the norm in other countries.
A total of 200 people - doctors, nurses, and health representatives from various agencies - were attending a two-day seminar in Bangkok, starting on Thursday, to discuss the problem.