An interesting twist on charity here in Singapore...Cash for your kidney
Details to be announced next year, being worked out
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THE Government is studying ways to reimburse living donors who donate their organs to unrelated recipients, Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan revealed yesterday.
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The reimbursement amounts have not been determined and details will only be announced early next year, when the Human Organ Trading Act will be amended, he said. But he expected the reimbursement per donor to be in the “tens of thousands of dollars”.
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In computing the appropriate reimbursement amounts, the Health Ministry will consider many factors, including the donor’s age and the additional medical expenses incurred after donating the organ, Mr Khaw said.
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Two conditions have to be fulfilled to ensure a proper framework for live organ donations. First, the donor must be fully informed of the consequences and risks of giving away an organ or part of an organ. The other condition is that he or she must be offered suitable reimbursement for life.
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The National Kidney Foundation may be one non-government organisation that can contribute to the reimbursement amounts, Mr Khaw said.
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The foundation is studying how it can raise additional funds to support the donors and protect their welfare, he added.
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Reimbursing living organdonors is a globally acceptable ethical thing to do, Mr Khaw said. This is better than leaving it to the black market where the donors are clearly exploited, he added.
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Mr Khaw was speaking yesterday to reporters at the re-opening of Woodlands Polyclinic. He hadreturned recently from Manila where he attended a World Health Organization meeting and visited a village in which people had sold their kidneys for monetary gain.
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Members of Parliament Today spoke to then were in favour of the idea of third-party compensation for donors, but they said the critical issue was preventing the financial gain from becoming the main reason for organ donation.
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Madam Halimah Yacob, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Health, suggested a system wherein organ recipients donate to a fund held by avoluntary welfare organisation or religious body, and the donor draws on that fund for medical treatments or to cover insurance premiums.
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The ethical stance held by the majority has always been that acts of charity should not be motivated by profits. Hence, resistance to the extravagant prizes given by NKF even before discussions about Golden Taps and TV stunts emerged. This would appear to be a concession to the libertian argument regarding the sale of organs or in their language, "compensation".
One staggers to imagine how this should affect the opt out function in our current HOTA.
