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SINGAPORE : The two Indonesian men convicted of human organ trading have been sentenced in a Singapore subordinate court on Thursday.
26-year-old Sulaiman Damanik and 27-year-old Toni had pleaded guilty in court to agreeing to sell their kidneys to two patients in Singapore.
Sulaiman was sentenced to two weeks' jail and a S$1,000 fine. If he cannot pay the fine, he will be jailed for another one week.
Toni was sentenced to a jail term of three months and two weeks, and a fine of S$2,000. If he cannot pay the fine, he will face another two weeks in prison.
Toni had already sold his kidney to an Indonesian woman, Juliana Soh, for over S$29,000, while Sulaiman had intended to sell his kidney for S$23,700 to CK Tang's executive chairman Tang Wee Sung.
All their sentences will be backdated to the day of their remand on June 21.
Kemal Haripurwanto, Minister Counsellor and Head of Protocol & Consular Affairs at the Indonesian Embassy, said: "It is a just and proportional sentence. The sentence is light and hopefully, they will go back home together to their families and get on with their lives.
"This is a strong signal that one should consider deeply (before) getting involved in organ transplants."
The lawyer for the two accused is glad the court took into consideration that they were exploited to sell their organs.
"The court has been very fair, taking into account the mitigating factors. The (two Indonesian men) come from very poor families. One important factor which the court took into consideration is that they did not actively go round offering their organs for transplant or for sale," said Mohd Muzammil Mohd, lawyer for the two accused.
District Judge Bala Reddy said the sentence imposed should resonate a clear signal that Singapore does not and will not condone the commercial trade in human organs. He said offenders will face severe penalties if convicted.
The district judge also added that longer custodial sentences should be reserved for the ring leaders and major players in the organ trade syndicate.
This is the first such illegal organ trading case to be prosecuted in Singapore.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Government Parliamentary Committee for Health, Halimah Yacob said Singapore should tighten its screening processes in organ transplants.
She said would-be organ donors and recipients should be screened by the Ministry of Health (MOH).
Madam Halimah said: "That could be another consideration, instead of going to the hospital ethics committee. If screening is done at the MOH level, then maybe one could sense that there's a lot more arm's length dealing, in terms of determining the relationship.
"I really do hope to see a more thorough system of screening of would-be donors and recipients, particularly in terms of their relationship. Two (illegal) cases were (uncovered), and people will wonder if there were other cases that had gone through undetected."
While some hope the recent case would act as a deterrent, others call for doctors to take greater responsibility with transplant patients, instead of leaving it all to the ethics committee.
"We should ensure that we tell any patient who comes in with a prospective donor... that we would take action if they are paid donors... That's the only way we can send the message to people," said Dr Pary Sivaraman at the Singapore Clinic for Kidney Diseases.
One lawyer commented that, if necessary, the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA) can be used against organ buyers - in this case, Juliana Soh and Tang Wee Sung.
"Section 14 of HOTA does not make a distinction between buyer and seller, hence I would have thought the buyer is equally responsible," said lawyer S Palaniappan, Straits Law Practice.
When contacted, the MOH was not able to say whether the buyers in the illegal organ trading case will be prosecuted. However, it did say that investigations are still ongoing, and it will wait for the outcome before taking further action. - CNA /ls
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