Since its establishment in 1969, the National Kidney Foundation of Singapore, a solely public-funded organisation, has staunchly advocated organ donation. In 1972, the NKF persuaded the Singapore government to introduce the Medical (Therapy, Education & Research) Act, which made an organ donor’s pledge sacrosanct. The Act meant that if an individual wanted to donate his organs, he signed a donor card together with two witnesses. Before this, a family member could easily revoke the pledge once the person dies. Between 1972 and 1986, the NKF carried out massive education campaigns on a national scale on this “opting in” concept to promote kidney donation. However, the results were not encouraging.
The NKF then realised that the best way is to try and change the law by introducing the “opting out” legislation. The NKF mounted another massive campaign in 1986, reaching out to every sector of the Singapore public to show the Singapore government that the public supported kidney donation. Garnering the support of more than 1 million Singaporeans, the NKF was instrumental in the passing of the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA) in 1986, making Singapore the first Commonwealth country to have such a law. HOTA is a presumed consent law where non-Muslim Singaporeans and Permanent Residents between the ages of 21 and 60, are automatic kidney donors in the event of accidental death, unless they opt out. Muslims were excluded because they were not supportive of the law. But the NKF remained unrelenting in its efforts to promote kidney donation and transplantation among the Singapore Muslim community.
Muslims in Singapore are predominantly Malays. There are currently over 470,000 Malays, forming about 14% of Singapore’s population of 3.4 million. The NKF realised at that time, that education was the key to transforming the mindset of Muslims. In 1990, the NKF worked with the highest Singapore Islamic Authority – the Majlis Ugama Islam Singapura (MUIS), to set-up the Muslim Kidney Action Committee, a voluntary group comprising members from 10 local Muslim organisations, to advance efforts in promoting kidney donation and transplantation among the Muslim community. This culminated in the country’s first Muslim cadaveric kidney transplant in 1991, which was also the first in South-east Asia. The NKF then adopted a gradual and concerted approach to encourage Singaporean Muslims to accept organ donation.
Today, Singaporean Muslims support organ donation. The presentation will reveal the detailed strategies of how the NKF was able to achieve this and make multi-racial Singapore one of the most progressive countries in the world in organ donation advocacy, in which countries around the world can emulate.