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There are now more Muslims waiting to receive organs than members of the 490,000-strong Malay community who pledged last year to donate theirs.
The number of pledges fell by 82 percent from 2005, the biggest drop in the past six years. It is also the second consecutive year that pledges have fallen, reversing an earlier jump in the number of Muslims stepping forward.
According to figures from the Ministry of Health (MOH), 87 Muslims pledged their organs last year, compared to 496 in 2005 and 924 in 2004, which had marked a 152- per-cent increase over the preceding year.
The decline in pledges is continuing this year. As of last month, 75 Muslims have pledged to donate their organs.
Meanwhile, there are now 124 Muslims from a total of 594 patients on the waiting list for an organ transplant.
Only Muslims who opt to pledge their organs will receive the same priority on the waiting list as other Singaporeans and permanent residents who have not opted out of the Human Organ Transplant Act (Hota).
Due to religious considerations, Muslims are excluded from the Act, which allows for kidneys, livers, hearts and corneas of brain-dead patients to be used for transplant. But they can opt to pledge their organs under the Medical (Therapy, Education and Research) Act.
Explaining the drop in pledge numbers, Muslim Kidney Action Association (MKAC) president Ameerali Abdeali said: "That (2004 hike) was because there was a three-month intensive and sustained public education campaign spearheaded by the MKAC and the old National Kidney Foundation.
"In the last two years, there was no major drive to encourage Muslims to pledge their kidneys. During this period, MKAC focussed its efforts on programmes for the benefit of kidney patients — to ease hardships — such as securing jobs and providing educational help through direct tuition and enrichment programmes at MKAC for the children."
- TODAY/so
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