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SINGAPORE: The former head of retail empire CK Tang, Mr Tang Wee Sung, who was jailed a day for attempting to buy a kidney, finally got a transplant on Friday.
A family spokesperson told Weekend TODAY that 56-year-old Mr Tang's operation at the National University Hospital (NUH), which started in the "early morning" and took "about three hours", was successful.
"Mr Tang's condition is stable and he's recuperating in hospital now. His relatives are with him," the spokesperson said, without furnishing more details.
When contacted, an NUH spokesperson declined to comment "in respect of patient's request and patient confidentiality".
The family and hospital would not say who the donor was. According to past reports, Mr Tang — who had undergone a triple-bypass operation in October 2007 — was not eligible for a cadaveric kidney because of his many ailments, such as heart problems, asthma, sleep apnoea, depression, anxiety and panic attacks.
Under the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA), a living donor has to appear before a Transplant Ethics Committee (TEC) before a transplant can proceed. Among other things, the TEC has to determine that donor and recipient share a strong emotional relationship, if not blood ties, before granting authorisation.
The ailing magnate, who had been suffering from end-stage renal failure and pops more than 50 pills daily, had said in past media interviews that he might get a kidney in Beijing, where he has relatives, or in the United States.
Doctors had also reportedly told him that he had one to two years to live without a transplant. Kidney patients here usually have to wait nine years on average for a transplant.
Mr Tang, a bachelor, was fined $17,000 and jailed for one day in September for attempting to buy a kidney from Indonesian Sulaiman Damanik. He was prepared to pay $300,000 to see the deal through.
Mr Sulaiman, 26, had agreed to sell his kidney for about 150 million rupiah and had lied to a TEC that his aunt was married to Mr Tang's niece's brother-in-law.
Upon his conviction, Mr Tang stepped down as executive chairman of CK Tang.
The organ-trading saga sparked off widespread discussions. The Health Ministry subsequently released a consultation paper last November on proposed changes to HOTA which would entail, among other things, heavier punishments for organ trading syndicates and middlemen.
The debate is also ongoing over a possible legal compensation scheme for organ donors.
- TODAY/so
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