Health Secretary Lo Chung-mau said on Sunday that officials would work to dispel any rumours or misconceptions about the planned cross-border organ-matching programme.

His comment follows an increase in the number of people seeking to de-register from the city's organ donation scheme, as the government plans for a cross-border organ-matching programme with the mainland.

Lo reiterated that under the programme, organs donated by Hong Kong residents would only be used on the mainland if there is no suitable local recipient.

He hoped that by providing accurate information, the public would have confidence in the scheme and continue to support organ donation in Hong Kong.

“When donating and receiving organs, we will not have any preconditions, in order to avoid conflicts of interest and discrimination,” he told reporters at an event to promote organ donation.

“The most effective way to tackle untrue rumours and fake information online is to expose lies and inform the public about the real situation.”

Chief Executive John Lee said last week that he had instructed the police to investigate the recent increase in withdrawals from the organ donation scheme.

Speaking at the same event as Lo, the Hospital Authority's Director of Cluster Services, Simon Tang, said a team of approximately a dozen organ transplant experts recently visited the mainland to exchange knowledge with their counterparts.

Tang said the mainland has a highly comprehensive system for storing the personal information and clinical condition of patients waiting for transplants.

He said the system instantly matches patients with available organs via a process he described as being absolutely fair.