'The ethical community, including the World Health Organisation, has clarified that it is ethical to compensate, so long as the compensation amount is not so big as to induce,' said Mr Khaw. -- ST PHOTO: WANG HUI FEN
FROM early next year, the law will be changed to allow compensation for live kidney donors.
The amount should not be so large that it's seen as inducement, said Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan when he announced it yesterday.
Both the World Health Organisation and countries like the United States say it is ethical to compensate donors, so they do not suffer for their act of altruism.
Mr Khaw said the amount of compensation is not 'hard wired' into legislations of countries such as the US, Britain and Australia that allow it. Singapore will follow suit.
He hinted that the sum will be at least five figures, and possibly six. The actual amount of just compensation will be left to a committee, which will be set up to look into this.
In the recent organ trading case involving former retail magnate Tang Wee sung, the indonesian donor was to have received $23,700 for his kidney, from the $300,000 Mr Tang paid the agent.
That case sparked a debate on whether it is ethical to pay someone for an organ. Yesterday, Mr Khaw repeated that it is not ethical to do so.
But he added, 'The ethical community, including the World Health Organisation, has clarified that it is ethical to compensate, so long as the compensation amount is not so big as to induce.'
Singapore, like countries all over the world, faces a severe shortage in organs for transplants. As a result, many people die each year.
The minister plans to amend the Human Organ Transplant Act (Hota) to allow for more organs for the more than 1,000 people facing organ failure here each year.
Speaking to reporters at Vivocity after launching the 'Live On' campaign to encourage organ donation, Mr Khaw said there will be two other amendments to the law. One is lifting the age of cadaveric donation, now capped at 60 years.
The other is to allow for paired donations - where a donor whose kidney is not a match for a relative, gives it to someone else, who also has a relative willing to give up a kidney. This is happening with increasing frequency in countries like the United States.
Draft changes to Hota will be ready in a fortnight. It will then be put up for public consultation for about four to six weeks. The minister expects to bring the changes to Parliament by January or February next year.
Read Salma Khalik's full story in tomorrow's edition of The Sunday Times.
