ORGAN trading syndicates and middlemen face stiffer punishment if the proposed changes to the Human Organ Transplant Act (Hota) are approved by Parliament.

They can be fined 10 times more than the current $10,000 penalty, or a maximum of a year's jail, or both.

Wanted: Public views on changes to organ transplant act THE Health Ministry (MOH) is seeking feedback from the public, doctors, nurses and professionals in the healthcare industry on the proposed changes to Hota. It is inviting views on the following questions: Should Hota be amended to increase the number of cadaveric donors by lifting the upper age limit for cadaveric organ donation? Should Hota be amended to facilitate living donor transplants by allowing donor-recipient paired matching for exchanges of organs? Should Hota be amended to support the welfare of living donors by allowing them to be compensated according to accepted international practices? Should Hota be amended to protect donors and recipients from exploitation bt middlemen by increasing the penalties for syndicated organ trading? ... more

The new penalties are among several changes to the law to make it possible for kidney donors to be compensated by the recipient or a voluntary organisation.

Two other proposed changes will see the lifting of the age limit for cadaveric donation, now set at 60.

The other is to allow for paired donations. This is 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.

Draft changes to the Hota, released by Health Ministry on Thursday, are now open for public consultation for the next four weeks.

Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan, who proposed the changes, expects to take the draft Bill to Parliament in January or February.

More importantly, the law will be amended to protect the welfare of living organ donors, who, in donating their kidneys, face both short- and long-term risks.

To ensure donor welfare would not be compromised, the Health Ministry also wants to:

* set up a donor registry - which operates much like a bank and also tracks the long-term outcomes of donors,

* provide long-term medical and follow-up care,

* provide short-term life insurance coverage for surgery-associated risks,

* priority for receiving an organ should the donor develop any organ failure later, and

* compensate them for expenses incurred as a result of the donation, and indirect losses such as lost earnings and future expenses due to the donation.

Singapore is not the first country looking into laws to compensate donors for surgery costs, lost earnings and transport.

Israel, for example, passed a law in March, providing a kidney donor with a financial package to compensate for lost earnings. After the transplant, the donor gets a fixed sum of 14,000 shekels (S$5,500) for loss of income from the government, free health insurance for several years and a certificate of merit.