Joanne Pauline Rigos De Villa, 16

School: Greendale Secondary School

Topic: Are youths apathetic towards organ donation?

Award: Merit, Senior Category, 2021

Imagine losing one of your bodily functions due to an organ failure and being placed on the waiting list for an organ donation. Imagine living life where what once came naturally is now riddled with inconvenience. Imagine having to inconvenience your loved ones every single waking hour, even though they say that they love you and that you aren’t a burden to them. Now imagine that this situation is compounded with your awareness that the statistics of organ donation is bleak. How bleak? In Singapore, the average wait time for a kidney donation can take 9 to 10 years, and 1 to 2 years for a liver or a heart. It is precisely this heart wrenching situation that has led to the implementation of the HOTA (Human Organ Transplant Act) in Singapore which allows for the kidneys, heart, liver and cornea to be removed, for the purpose of transplantation, in the event of death from any cause. HOTA covers all Singapore Citizens and Permanent Residents 21 years old and above, who are not mentally disordered, unless they have opted out. Nonetheless, this act is something that most people know little about, especially youths, given that the issue does not seem directly relevant to their lives. Yet, given Singapore’s currently poor track record where only 504 deceased donor organ transplants occurred in 2018, 88 per cent of which are cornea transplant-a statistic even more straddling when we consider the fact that this is a 13 per cent drop from 2017, where Singapore was deemed as one of the countries with the lowest rate of organ donation in the world-it becomes even more crucial for Singaporean citizens, especially its youths to make a positive difference given that we are facing a rapidly growing elderly population. The question that comes to mind here is whether youth are truly apathetic? In my opinion, I beg to differ from this common assumption that youths nowadays are apathetic. In fact, youths nowadays have the power to set trends on social media and are able to influence people closer to them like their family to create a ripple effect. From the look of things, where youths are taking part and actively contributing to events like the “Live On” festival, an initiative intended to spread awareness and encourage initiatives relating to organ donation, youths are employing the power they have.

One of the reasons why youths are no longer as apathetic as compared to the past is because of the invention of social media where youths being digital natives have the upper hand when it comes to spreading information fast and influencing others on social media. Empowered, youths can set trends where they post relevant information on their account and motivate others to repost it. Take Ishika Govil for example. Ishika contacted Snapchat executives, one of the social media giants, to provide her a filter for free. Eventually, she and Snapchat worked out an arrangement giving her local filters for Thomas Jefferson, Chantilly and Oakton high schools in Fairfax and for Rock Ridge in Loudoun County. Ishika sent out snaps promoting the Recycle Life idea and her hard work bore fruit! Her snaps were seen almost 2,000 times and people who viewed them used her message themselves 15.2 percent of the time when they sent their own snaps. Ishika also created an Instagram account and sent out pictures asking students to text her with questions or concerns about signing up to be an organ donor. Such stories about youths making a huge impact are inspiring and clearly shows they are not as apathetic as some critics might believe. By capitalising on social media as a platform, this would culminate in more youths being knowledgeable about organ donation who will hopefully follow suit by creating a ripple effect on the internet that will have an impact on our realities.

Moreover, youths are also empowered in the sense that they can influence people close towards them like their family and friends. In particular, youths can have meaningful conversations with their family members like their mother and father about organ donations. This is especially pertinent within the context of Singapore where there are not many people who are cognisant of the fact that organ donation is compulsory unless one opts out. Such ignorance while unintentional can however lead to delays in organ donation, especially when distraught family members contest their loved one’s desire to be a donor. By having conversations with their family and friends about organ donation, youth can influence others and help in the spreading of such pertinent information. For example, I have talked about organ donation to my family during dinner when all of us were present. At first, they knew nothing about any of this. They were also unaware that them being a Permanent Resident in Singapore meant that they are already under HOTA. Now having an understanding of what HOTA is all about, we have unanimously decided not to opt out and avoided the ambiguity of not knowing one another’s stance during crucial situations. Furthermore, such impactful conversations can inspire our friends and family to spread the information to others.

Yet, despite such optimistic trends amongst youths, some critics still perceive youth as unconcerned about social issues such as organ donation given that they are deemed to be irrelevant to youths. Such accusations are common within Singapore where youths have to constantly defend themselves from being labelled as apathetic. For instance, we were accused of being fixated only on social media and material wants, being out of touch with politics and oblivious not so many years ago. In fact, then, it got to the point where the Prime Minister felt that there was a need to address the issue at a national forum. At the 2002 National Day Rally, Mr Goh Chok Tong challenged the youth to show that they have the same drive and passion as the pioneer and merdeka generation: “Has the younger generation of Singaporeans gone soft? Look yourself in the mirror and ask: Am I a stayer or a quitter? Am I a fair-weather Singaporean or an all-weather Singaporean?” I would argue that since then youths have become more aware of social issues and are actively playing a part due to the increase in their exposure to such issues within the school context such as Values-In-Action and discussions during CCE (Character and Citizenship) lessons. Take myself for example where I learnt about organ donation during English class. Upon researching further into the topic, I personally feel that organ donation is not only beneficial to patients, but also beneficial for future advancements in medical science in Singapore. Beyond HOTA, I learnt about MTERA, the Medical (Therapy, Education and Research) Act, an opt-in scheme, where people can pledge their organs or any body parts for the purposes of transplant, education or research after they pass away. This act allows anyone 18 years old and above to pledge and donate their organs and/or tissues. Moreover, the opt-in criteria necessitates that the person’s decision be respected, such that his family members will not be able to revoke his pledge. Moreover, under MERTA, one can choose to donate all your organs and tissues or specify those you wish to donate. I personally find this empowering as it provides individuals with the opportunity to contribute to a cause that they feel for. Personally, I feel for the work done by the Brain Bank Singapore, which was set up to obtain and store brain tissue from both patients with brain disorders and healthy individuals who have consented to give this gift for research after death. This is a priceless decision that will help provide a better understanding of how neurological and mental health disorders damage the human brain and aid in the development of new therapeutic treatments for future generations. Current treatments only reduce symptoms and do not stop disease progression. The health and hopes of future generations rest on discoveries that will be made possible by tissue donation. Every individual person is special in their tissue make-up and normal ageing tissues are just as paramount as tissues affected by neurological conditions, in order to identify the problem and solution accurately through constant research.

I believe that youths like myself are empowered to make a difference because nowadays we have the power to set trends through social media and our increasing exposure to social issues enable us to become ambassadors amongst our friends and family to engender a positive ripple effect. Jane Goodall said that, “Young people, when informed and empowered, when they realise that what they do truly makes a difference, can indeed change the world.” Hence, I would like to entreat those who perceive youth as negative to perhaps change their mind-set and instead see the potential in youth and consider how to tap onto this instead of merely seeing them as apathetic.

Disclaimer: Please note that the views and opinions expressed in the essays for the Live On Festival 2021 are those of the participants and are not endorsed by the National Organ Transplant Unit (Ministry of Health).

To learn more about organ donation and organ transplantation in Singapore, please visit www.liveon.gov.sg