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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Khaw: Foreign organ donors should also be reimbursed
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>He says ethical standards must apply equally, so Hota changes should cover non-S'poreans too </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Judith Tan
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The new Yishun library, on the fourth level of Northpoint, is almost twice as big as its former home. It also has three times as many seats. And its collection has increased by 20 per cent to 150,000 volumes. The opening- day crowd was so big that both escalators had to be switched to travel up. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->FOREIGNERS who come to Singapore to donate their organs should be covered by proposed laws that would allow reimbursement for such procedures.
This point was made by Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan yesterday during a community event.
He also said foreign nationals living in Singapore and permanent residents should be included under amendments to the Human Organ Transplant Act (Hota).
Changes to the law, which are currently open to public consultation, would allow organ donors to be reimbursed to cover their medical bills and follow-up treatment. Officials, however, have said the money should not be an 'inducement' for donors and that organ trading would remain illegal.
Mr Khaw said ethical standards must be applied equally to Singaporeans, permanent residents and foreigners.
'As a regional medical hub, we serve patients, local and foreign. If foreigners bring their own sets of relatives or donors and vice-versa...I think we should be open to that,' he told reporters yesterday, a day after draft changes to Hota were released by his ministry.
The move to include foreigners followed earlier suggestions that organ donation laws will focus on Singaporeans.
The proposed changes are open for public consultation for four weeks. They aim to protect the welfare of living organ donors who, in giving up their kidneys, face both short- and long-term risks.
Other changes include removing the age limit on organ donations from the newly dead, now set at 60. The Government is also considering allowing paired donations. This is where a donor, whose kidney is not a match for a relative, gives it to someone else who in turn has a relative willing to give up a kidney.
There were about 520 people on the kidney transplant wait list as at Oct 31. A shortage of donors means the waiting time averages nine years. Last year, more than 80 patients were removed from the list because they died, or had become too old or too sick for a transplant.
Amendments to Hota would make it possible for people who donate their kidneys to be reimbursed by the recipient or by a voluntary welfare organisation.
'Some patients may not be able to compensate the donors. Voluntary welfare organisations, like the National Kidney Foundation, may be able to raise funds to help such patients compensate the donors,' Mr Khaw told The Straits Times. But those groups would help only if the donor is local, he said.
The minister also said it is important for potential donors to make informed choices and make the donation with eyes wide open. 'It would be a tragedy to have donated (a kidney) and, 10 or 20 years later, the remaining kidney fails. You now have created a kidney failure patient quite unnecessarily.'
Mr Khaw was speaking at the re-opening of the Yishun library. It had been closed for a month while being moved to its new home in the more centrally located Northpoint Shopping Centre. [email protected]
<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>Khaw: Foreign organ donors should also be reimbursed
</TR><!-- headline one : end --><TR>He says ethical standards must apply equally, so Hota changes should cover non-S'poreans too </TR><!-- Author --><TR><TD class="padlrt8 georgia11 darkgrey bold" colSpan=2>By Judith Tan
</TD></TR><!-- show image if available --><TR vAlign=bottom><TD width=330>
</TD><TD width=10>
The new Yishun library, on the fourth level of Northpoint, is almost twice as big as its former home. It also has three times as many seats. And its collection has increased by 20 per cent to 150,000 volumes. The opening- day crowd was so big that both escalators had to be switched to travel up. -- ST PHOTO: CHEW SENG KIM
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->FOREIGNERS who come to Singapore to donate their organs should be covered by proposed laws that would allow reimbursement for such procedures.
This point was made by Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan yesterday during a community event.
He also said foreign nationals living in Singapore and permanent residents should be included under amendments to the Human Organ Transplant Act (Hota).
Changes to the law, which are currently open to public consultation, would allow organ donors to be reimbursed to cover their medical bills and follow-up treatment. Officials, however, have said the money should not be an 'inducement' for donors and that organ trading would remain illegal.
Mr Khaw said ethical standards must be applied equally to Singaporeans, permanent residents and foreigners.
'As a regional medical hub, we serve patients, local and foreign. If foreigners bring their own sets of relatives or donors and vice-versa...I think we should be open to that,' he told reporters yesterday, a day after draft changes to Hota were released by his ministry.
The move to include foreigners followed earlier suggestions that organ donation laws will focus on Singaporeans.
The proposed changes are open for public consultation for four weeks. They aim to protect the welfare of living organ donors who, in giving up their kidneys, face both short- and long-term risks.
Other changes include removing the age limit on organ donations from the newly dead, now set at 60. The Government is also considering allowing paired donations. This is where a donor, whose kidney is not a match for a relative, gives it to someone else who in turn has a relative willing to give up a kidney.
There were about 520 people on the kidney transplant wait list as at Oct 31. A shortage of donors means the waiting time averages nine years. Last year, more than 80 patients were removed from the list because they died, or had become too old or too sick for a transplant.
Amendments to Hota would make it possible for people who donate their kidneys to be reimbursed by the recipient or by a voluntary welfare organisation.
'Some patients may not be able to compensate the donors. Voluntary welfare organisations, like the National Kidney Foundation, may be able to raise funds to help such patients compensate the donors,' Mr Khaw told The Straits Times. But those groups would help only if the donor is local, he said.
The minister also said it is important for potential donors to make informed choices and make the donation with eyes wide open. 'It would be a tragedy to have donated (a kidney) and, 10 or 20 years later, the remaining kidney fails. You now have created a kidney failure patient quite unnecessarily.'
Mr Khaw was speaking at the re-opening of the Yishun library. It had been closed for a month while being moved to its new home in the more centrally located Northpoint Shopping Centre. [email protected]
