Singapore doctors promote organ donation
September 3rd, 2011 - 7:25 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, Sep 3 (IANS) A team of doctors from Singapore on a visit here said Saturday that people should not hesitate in donating kidney and liver to help the needy.
The surgeons are on a visit to promote the latest developments in liver and kidney transplant and optimising organ donation, ethically.
?Today there are no medical barriers but only mental barriers. People are still afraid of donating their organs,? said Roger Tan, a nephrologist at Singapore?s Parkway hospital.
?There are cases galore where a patient?s condition has gone from bad to worse because we are not able to find a suitable donor,? he added.
The doctors said that unlike India where the law states that only a relative can donate his or her kidney to a patient, in Singapore there was no such law.
?It offers a window to that small number of patients who can?t find a donor due to this law,? said gastroenterologist Lai Wai Kwan Vincent.
The human organs transplantation legislation in India allows organ donation only from close relative. This has however given way to illegal trade in organs. An amendment in the legislation is proposed to ease the norms.
The Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Bill, which has been passed by parliament and now has to be notified, eases the norms allowing swapping of organs. A pair of donor and recipient who are near relatives but whose organs do not medically match for transplantation are permitted by the bill to swap organs with another similar pair.
The bill increases the penalty for unauthorised removal of human organs and for receiving or making payment for human organs.
The visiting doctors said that with no such strict laws being in place in Singapore, organ transplantations were much easier. They said that scrutiny was done in case to check abuse of the system.
?The donor is examined by a psychiatrist as well,? said Vincent.
Our patients get the highest standard of post treatment care which includes a close monitor even when they return to their home country.
?Over 30 Indian patients have got their liver and kidney transplant done in Singapore in the last around eight years,? said Vincent.
According to officials of Parkway health, the group has 16 hospitals worldwide with one under construction in Mumbai.
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- Hyderabad hospital performs rare kidney transplant - Aug 19, 2011
- 'Stiff penalties mooted for unethical practices in organ grafting' - Nov 27, 2010
- Two Sri Lankan families swap livers for transplant - Jun 07, 2011
- Chronic kidney disease rising in India: Doctors - Mar 07, 2012
- Save lives, become an organ donor (Nov 27 is World Organ Donation Day) - Nov 27, 2010
- 'Lack of organ donors affecting liver transplants' - Jan 19, 2012
- Only 4,500 out of two lakh get transplants - Feb 15, 2012
- 1,700 Chinese donate bodies for medical research - Mar 01, 2012
- Organ donors need to know outcomes of surgery: Court - Aug 19, 2012
- Cross blood group transplants conducted in India - Nov 11, 2011
- Innovative liver surgery saves 2-year-old Omani girl - Jul 04, 2012
- A death that gave life to five people - Apr 21, 2011
- Health Minister Gulam Nabi Azad ask people to donate organs to save lives - Nov 27, 2010
- Troubled by kidney ailments, Goa gets helpline - May 14, 2011
Tags: amendment bill, gastroenterologist, human organs, illegal trade, kidney transplant, kwan, lai, law states, medical barriers, mental barriers, nephrologist, norms, organ donation, organ transplantations, parkway hospital, psychiatrist, singapore doctors, strict laws, suitable donor, transplantation