Receiving a new kidney or heart is receiving a gift of life. Those on the receiving end are generally patients who are facing a life or death situation — people who have had to endure a long long wait for an available organ for transplant into their bodies.  The lucky ones at the front of the queue get a chance at a new lease of life. The others have to hope against hope that they will be able to live to see the day when an organ transplant becomes available for them. In many cases, it is a wait in vain.

So, it doesn’t come as a surprise to me to hear of patients trying to secure an organ illegally here in Singapore. These patients have exasperated all ways and means of getting an organ transplant legally and have found themselves in a desperate situation in which their health has deteriorated to such a stage that they are now being kept alive with the help of machines and medication. In other words, they won’t be able to live a day longer without such things. Simply put, they are at the end of life itself.

The recent news about CK Tang chairman Tang Wee Sung is an account of a man trying to prolong his life with a gift of life from a willing seller who will be well paid for parting with a kidney. It is willing-seller-willing-buyer situation. The seller willingly parts with a kidney and gets an amount of money which helps put him and his family into a better standard of living. The buyer willingly parts with a sum of money in exchange for a gift of life. Both parties stand to benefit. No one is exploited here.

But the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA) makes it an offence for such a transaction to take place and so Mr Tang has found himself in court. Sadly, the law is punishing a man who has done no criminal act. He has not deprived anyone of his rights. What he had done was something that anyone of us healthy chaps would also have done if put in his shoes — he was merely a dying man clutching at a straw. But though he was desperate, he had not pushed anyone underwater in order to reach the straw which could save his life.

So, I think it is time for the law to be changed so that it allows the ethical sale of organs. It would significantly increase the number of lives that can be saved. There are people among us who would disagree with my suggestion. Some may feel that everyone should queue up and get an equal chance. That’s typically Singaporean. But I wish to remind these people that this is not about queueing up for an HDB flat or the latest iPhone. Lives are at stake here. And there are people who may think that it is morally wrong. I venture to ask if these persons would still hold such a view if they find themselves in similar dire straits and stand to lose their lives.

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan said recently that ‘even as we take action against those involved in illicit organ trading and unscrupulously exploiting the desperate and the vulnerable, we will take a sympathetic approach to the plight of the exploited donors and the basic instinct of kidney failure patients to try to live’.

But, we should do more. And quickly. Mr Tang needs our help. So do more than five hundred patients waiting for a kidney. Live and live live, I say.

We are supposed to be in jubilant mood here in Singapore today, for our triumphant Women’s Table Tennis Team is due home this afternoon with Singapore’s first Olympic silver medal since 1960. The Straits Times has several full-page advertisements welcoming home Team Singapore, particularly the women silver medalists, Wang Yuegu, Feng Tianwei and Li Jiawei.

Yet, the island is abuzz with talk about some goings-on in the Singapore Table Tennis Association. This morning, as I write this article, I hear Glenn Ong of the Morning Express radio programme saying that some higher-ups must have had a hand in toning down the remarks of the table tennis association president who earlier brought down the high spirits of the table tennis olympic team with her harsh remarks about the team managers.

Chef de Mission of the Singapore Olympic contingent, Dr Tan Eng Liang, rightly said that ‘Any bad news could have waited until after the celebrations.’ In fact, I think Dr Tan should have been consulted before the table tennis association officials made public any bad news, for as head of the Singapore Olympic team, he should have been accorded this respect in the very least. And I venture to say that Dr Tan, with his wide experience in the sports arena, would have dished out graceful advice.

But, it’s too late. What’s done has been done. The Straits Times today has two pages on the matter. In an article headlined ‘untimely and ungracious’, it mentioned having received ‘nearly 200 e-mails and letters from readers — almost all of whom voiced disbelief and outrage’ at the timing of the bad news.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong went out of his way to let Singaporeans partake in the historic moment by postponing the English telecast of his National Day Rally speech by a day so that they could watch the Olympic final of the women’s table tennis team. Along with most Singaporeans, he knew we had a slim chance of winning an Olympic gold for the event. But, he understood that the need for the nation to bask in the rare sporting moment took precedence over serious national issues which – though needing urgent public airing – could wait. Why then, couldn’t our table tennis association wait?

Source: The Straits Times 25 Aug 2008 Pages A4, A5, A11, A20