In fact, the call to build this nationwide fast-tack delivery for organ transplants has been echoing across the coutry for some time. Although modern transportation has already saved many hours in shipping the donated organs, it was still a nerve-racking race against time for many surgeons. CCTV's reporter gives us a look back at the first case to benefit from this "green passage" two months ago, when the scheme was in its initial stages .

Half an hour in advance, the life-saving lung arrived just in time. For transplant surgeries, every passing second could mean the difference between life and death, after the organ is removed from its donors

At about 6 a.m. in Qingdao, the donated lung was safely stowed. The medical team then rushed to the local airport and got on a 7:20 flight to Shanghai

The flight arrived about 30 minutes earlier, where the team rescheduled to take a nearest high-speed rail train and made it at WuXi People's hospital at 10:30, five and a half hours after the organ removed.

"We removed the lung from the donor and kept it in cold storage. The shipping usually takes us about 6 hours. After the organ arrives in hospital, the whole surgery process, including preparation, takes another 5 hours. Generally speaking, we hope the transplant can be accomplished within 12 hours. So the shipping hours are very precious to us. There cannot be any delay, or it may directly lead to an operation failure," said Chen Jingyu, Deputy Head of Wuxi People's Hospital.

This time, the surgeons make it. But often they fail almost every time, according to Dr. Chen, in this nerve-wrecking race against time. Last October, the medical team carrying donated lungs, missed a flight from Guangzhou due to a traffic jam.

The team arrived 15 minutes before the flight departure time, and was refused to be let on board.

Not discouraged by the experience, Dr. Chen became the advocate of this "green passage" for transporting donated organs, and wrote to the National People’s Congress last March.

The country's Civil Aviation authorities got involved,  which helped to make this the first successful delivery through the fast-track system.

"We have asked the airport in Qingdao for support and cooperation, and we applied for a priority to guarantee flights can take off on time. As long as this achieved, the pilot during the flight can make special requests for temporary or direct air routes to air traffic control, which could shorten flight time as much as possible."

This "green passage" for organ transplant was officially established on Friday, another milestone in the China's medical history, and the fight against time to save lives.