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SINGAPORE: The middleman involved in Singapore's first illegal kidney transplant case will be sentenced on September 5.
Even before the case is wrapped up, there are renewed calls for authorities here to do more to increase the number of living donors.
While it may be a closed chapter for Mr Tang Wee Sung, who was jailed and fined on Wednesday in Singapore's first kidney-for-sale case, it is still an open book when it comes to the debate on organ trading in Singapore.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) has said that it will not rule out legalising organ trading.
In the case of renal failure, some 600 people are on a waiting list with an average waiting time of nine years before they get a transplant.
It seems that the way forward is to encourage more living donors, but there are costs involved.
Ameerali Abdeali, president, Singapore Muslim Kidney Action Association, said: "You really need an altruistic person to say I want to donate my kidney to save a life. For this person, there is a cost to them. Even to do a test for compatibility, there is already a cost."
Ideas that authorities here may look at include having philanthropic, charitable or religious bodies funding the compensation for donors. But compensation does not have to involve money changing hands between donor and recipient.
Mr Ameerali said: "I think that Singapore’s society is not ready for organ trading and certainly not developing Singapore as an organ trading hub. That.. (is) not acceptable. But there can be certain scenarios where it can be comfortable.
"Take for example, one person is affluent and suffering from kidney failure and there's another man who can give him that kidney, but his mother is critically ill in hospital and needs expensive surgery.
"So on this basis on quid pro quo, where no money actually exchange hands, this person pays for the medical bills and surgery bills for his donor's mother. Personally, I'm comfortable with that and I don't think that amounts to organ trading."
Mr Ameerali added that with trading, there is usually a profit component. He said: "Where there are actual organ sales and the money is used by the donor (for reasons such as) starting a business, that kind of scenario is really clear-cut trading."
Responding to Channel NewsAsia, MOH said moving forward, its focus is to prevent end-stage kidney failure.
It added that the key is in prevention, maximising organ yield from cadaveric kidney transplants, promoting living-related transplants and public education on the Human Organ Transplant Act.
Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan is expected to visit a village in the Philippines on the sidelines of a World Health Organisation meeting later this month. He plans to meet donors to find out what drove them to sell their organs and perhaps look at the compensation they received to understand their situation. - CNA/vm
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