Public Education on Organ Donation under Human Organ Transplant Act

Ms Sylvia Lim asked the Minister for Health what efforts are ongoing to educate the public on the effects of the compulsory donation provisions of the Human Organ Transplant Act so as to minimise distress to family members of patients who meet the criteria for compulsory harvesting of organs.

Madam, the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA) facilitates Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents (PRs) who reach 21 years of age, to donate their kidneys, livers, hearts and corneas in the event of death, for the purpose of transplantation to save lives. Every year, the National Organ Transplant Unit (NOTU), sends a HOTA notification letter to all citizens and PRs who are about to turn 21 years old. This

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letter clearly explains the requirements and implications of HOTA.

We also organise on-going public education programmes such as the "Live On" campaign which started in 2008 to raise public awareness and understanding about organ donation. Last year, SingHealth Transplant organised the "Thanks a Million!" project. Around one million paper roses were folded by over 18,000 school students and healthcare professionals from various institutions in Singapore to show appreciation to the gift of life made by organ donors.

This year, MOH has also planned a series of public education efforts including television commercials, newspaper advertisements, and roadshows to spread the message of organ donation and to encourage individuals to discuss their views and decisions on organ donation with family members and loved ones. Through this open sharing, we hope that the family members would then be more ready to honour the organ donation decisions of their loved ones when called upon to do so.

In addition to these public education efforts on the ground, our hospitals have teams comprising senior clinicians, medical social workers, nurses and transplant coordinators to engage family members of donors during the organ donation process. MOH also regularly conducts training programmes to equip these hospital staff with the skills to communicate sensitively with the family members of donors, explaining the organ donation process, hearing the family's concerns and clarifying any related issues that they may have.

We will continue to evolve our approach to engage Singaporeans about this important and emotive topic, so that the life-saving and life-changing benefits of organ transplantation can be better understood and embraced by family members and society at large.

Madam, I have two supplementary questions for the Minister. I note his comments about the Ministry's efforts in the past and pending this year to educate the general public on the implications of the law. I wanted to ask whether the Ministry also tracks the outcomes of the efforts so far. In other words, what is the general awareness level existing in the population right now. Despite all these efforts, is awareness high, low or what is it?

Secondly, I recently came across a case of a resident of mine who passed away and she qualified to be a cadaveric donor. The family narrated to me that

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they were very shocked about the implications of the organ donation law. I would like to ask the Minister whether such expressions of surprise or shock from families is commonplace in hospitals currently and is that how the Ministry is stepping up its efforts.

Madam, I thank the Member for the supplementary questions. We have been tracking the outcome of our public education programmes. We have done surveys from time to time to better understand the awareness of HOTA and what are the implications. I do not have the exact numbers with me but from our studies and our surveys, we find that the majority of Singaporeans know about HOTA. They may not know all the implications of HOTA but we do know that a significant proportion of Singaporeans do understand the implications of organ donation under HOTA, and the possibility of opting out.

To start with, we are sending letters to all Singaporeans and PRs reaching 21 years of age, to inform them of the option to opt out if they wish to. From time to time, when family members come into contact with the incident of a loved one passing away and they are confronted with the decision about organ donation, they may find it surprising and shocking at the point when they have just lost their loved ones. That is an encounter that we face from time to time at the hospital. When a person passes away, the family members are grieving. At the same time, the doctors and clinicians have to race against time to ensure the viability of the transplant. Therefore, they have to discuss with the family members on this issue that is sometimes very sensitive and very emotive. Therefore, we conduct training programmes for hospital staff so that they are better equipped in dealing with such issues to be able to understand the families' concerns and to manage the process in a more sensitive way.

I hope that by doing so, we would be able to improve the success of organ donation.