LOVE, Kloudiia

I prefer to play the piano and not organ. But I’m not about to say no to organ trading. Then I prefer to say kidney rather than organ trading, because the fierce debate is about kidney and not other organs.

I pored over each and every arguement for and against kidney trading and till date, I have to say that I am more inclined towards a yes, but with conditions attached. I know, this might come slightly overdue. (I drafted this some time back and kept it in, yes the drafts folders till now!)

That it is done in Singapore and the middle man is taken away. In its place is a government body who will make sure that both the donor and the recipient will have proper care after the operation, and the surgery will be done locally.

In this way, we eliminate the chances of the donors getting infection due to poor hygiene or not-so-conducive environments to recuperat after the surgery. With this taken care of, donors, whether cadaveric or paid, are no different from each other, in terms of health-wise. Hence, the point that donors who are paid to donate their kidneys do so at the expense of their own health is no longer valid, in my opinion.

And it should also elminate the case that they shouldn’t be donating their kidney for money, for fear that they would need it one day when their own health goes awry. Isn’t this the same for cadaveric donors? They also face the possibility of their only-left kidney failing, and they would in turn need to seek for someone to donate to them.

Then comes to the morals. I totally agree with the pro-camp saying that while it is immoral to “exploit” the poor for their organs so that the rich can live, it is also immoral to let a man die or live so miserably when there are chances for them to have a second lease of life.

I guess the key word here is “exploit”. If the donors have been carefully explained by the stated department (identified by our Ministry of Health) what the operation entails and the risks involved, plus the removal of the middle man racking in huge profits, then where is the exploitation? Instead, the poor gets a tidy sum that could very possibly lift them out of poverty once and for all!

It seems that, after running over all the logical reasonings, there is a high chance that Singapore can really pull this off and keep all the parties in the equation happy and satisfied to a reasonable extent. If a life can be saved not at the expense of another person’s health, why not?

The only thing left undebated is probably down to emotions, and not logic anymore. How do people feel about those who can afford to buy a healthy kidney and jump the queue for transplant versus those who have to wait for their turn for a cadaveric donor to show his/her face at the hospital as that glimmer of hope?

And if emotions rule, I believe nobody will ever understand the mental, physical and emotional misery and stress a kidney failure patient faces. And such worries and pressure usually comes in a package – the patient’s family and caregivers. Hence when a lady wrote in and shot in the faces of those who opposes organ trading when they haven’t really taken care of one or is living with one in close proximity, I saw her perspective.  I felt her pain and helplessness.

Since our Health Minister Mr Khaw Boon Wah has stated that he would be visiting a village in Manila to check on those who had sold their kidneys before, I truly hope that whatever information he brought home, he would bear in mind that, when the surgery is done in Singapore, and the buying of the kidney is overseen by our own government, one that we trust and has absolute integrity and honesty, things should be critically different. In fact, I dare say, drastically better.

Since we are on this subject matter, I would also like to say that I am pretty impressed with the way Minister Khaw had handled this issue. With its sensitivity and controversy, he is still able to keep an open mind and his willingness to explore options to look at this issue is already commendable.

If and really the HOTA remains that it is illegal for organ trading, but at least we know that our minister had indeed went through the options and found them to be incompatible for our society as a whole. At least, we debated.

Meanwhile, I’m sure there is more to come for this issue. Let’s wait and see…

P.S Regardless of the end verdict, I still want to quote that wise and very true cliche “Prevention is better than cure”. Always true.