SINGAPORE - Singapore's life-saving Bone Marrow Donor Programme celebrated its 100th donor and a new patron, Minister for Law and Foreign Affairs K Shanmugam, on Thursday.

The programme was set up 21 years ago and manages Singapore's only registry of bone marrow donors. Bone marrow transplants are the preferred treatment for many blood-related diseases such as leukaemia and lymphoma, but the odds of a DNA match between a donor and patient is only 1 in 20,000.

The registry currently has 44,000 people on its local register, but only slightly more than 100 of them have gone through with donations.

The 100th donor, 27-year-old engineer Lim Yun Song, did his part in May.

The non-profit organisation hopes to recruit 8,000 more people this year and raise $1.2 million to meet costs.

Mr Shanmugam said: "Bone marrow donors are heroes. They are given a chance to help a fellow human being through a simple yet selfless act of kindness, and they take it."