HUMAN ORGAN DONATION AND TRANSPLANT

Dr Lee Siew-Choh asked the Acting Minister for Health, in view of the scarcity of human organs and the difficulties encountered to carry out organ transplants in Singapore, if he has plans to amend the existing laws in order to facilitate availability of all types of human organs (namely, heart, liver and other organs in addition to kidneys) from cadavers to benefit the very ill patients who need such organ transplants for survival.

The Acting Minister for Health (Mr Yeo Cheow Tong): Mr Speaker, Sir, when the Human Organ Transplant Act was enacted in 1987, my Ministry, together with the National Kidney Foundation, launched an extensive publicity programme on organ donation and transplant. Many members of the public now understand that organ donation is a humanitarian act, one which directly leads to the saving of lives. As a result, the public is now more prepared to donate the organs of loved ones who have died following accidents or a medical catastrophe.

This is reflected in the increasing number of organ donations through expressed consent under the Medical (Therapy, Education and Research) Act over the last three years. In 1988, 16 cadaveric kidneys were obtained under the Human Organ Transplant Act while seven were donations under the Medical (Therapy, Education and Research) Act. In 1989, the voluntary donations increased to 11. For the first 10 months of this year, 21 kidneys were donated under expressed consent, exceeding the 18 cadaveric kidneys obtained under the Human Organ Transplant Act.

Sir, heart and liver transplants are still at an experimental stage in Singapore. So far, only one heart transplant and one liver transplant have been carried out. In both cases, the organs were obtained through the expressed consent of the next-of-kin. These cases again show that Singaporeans are more prepared to come forward to save lives, even while they themselves are grieving the tragic loss of a loved one.

As there are only a small number of persons on the waiting list for heart and liver transplants, we should continue to use persuasion to obtain the needed organs whenever an organ transplant is possible.

Dr Lee Siew-Choh: While agreeing with what the Minister has said, does the Government keep check on the number of organs available against the number of people who really need such organ transplants and have died as a result of waiting?

Mr Yeo Cheow Tong: Sir, we do keep track of the patients who are waiting for either heart or liver transplants. At the present moment, there are only seven patients waiting for heart transplants and nine waiting for liver transplants. And in fact in a few cases recently, the relatives of those who have died agreed to donate either the heart or the liver, but they were not usable because of incompatibility or because of other medical contra indications. So we do keep track of the cases where donations are possible and we do try to persuade those relatives to agree to donating the organs.