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SINGAPORE: A businessman has been charged with abetment for his alleged role in the kidney-trading case involving local retail magnate Tang Wee Sung.
Whang Sung Lin, 44, is alleged to have introduced Tang to a middleman to buy a kidney from a living donor, in return for a fee.
Whang, who is reportedly married to Tang's niece, is alleged to have introduced Tang to Wang Chin Sing between April and June this year.
Tang, who is the executive chairman of C K Tang, was charged on Thursday for attempting to buy a kidney. Wang was also charged on the same day.
Whang, who was charged on Saturday, is out on a S$10,000 bail. He is due to return to court on July 21.
While the case is the first of its kind here, some Singaporeans have been known to head overseas to purchase organs.
This is done as a last resort as the waiting list for a cadaveric kidney here is about nine years on average.
At the moment, living donor organ transplants in Singapore can only be carried out under very limited circumstances.
Still, latest figures from the Health Ministry showed the number of cases involving living donors is on the rise. In fact, there has been a jump in the number of transplants between non-related parties.
In 2007, 86 patients received kidneys from living donors. Of these, 53 were relatives. This means 33 donors were not related to the recipient, compared to 19 the year before, and six in 2005.
One possible reason is that more people are willing to donate. Kidney recipient Sheralyn Tay, who will be appearing in a Channel NewsAsia discussion show this weekend, said the net is also being cast wider.
"I think it's also being widened to look at not just related donors - who may not be suitable - but people with strong emotional ties, like best friends and boyfriends and girlfriends, or people who are engaged, or really, really close friends who would want to do something for each other," she said.
Tay, a reporter with TODAY newspaper who has been covering the Tang case closely, discusses the issue in depth on "Talking Point" with MediaCorp's chief editor Debra Soon and editorial director PN Balji. The segment will air on "Singapore Tonight" on Sunday.
- CNA/ir
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