Yap Bao Rui, 15

School: Bedok South Secondary School

Topic: Conservative culture a root cause of low donation rates?

Award: Merit, Senior Category, 2022

Organ Donation is the process of surgically removing an organ or tissue from a donor and transplanting it to a recipient (Cleveland Clinic, 2016), and has the potential to save and improve the lives of hundreds, if not thousands of different people. Those of which include people who need a kidney to the people who need new cornea replacements. However, this topic has been generally undiscussed by the public. Even with organ donation policies being put in place such as the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA), the organ donation rates are still strikingly low with 6.6 per million people, with more than 400 patients still standing and waiting for suitable organ transplants (Baker, 2021). Singapore’s conservative culture plays a part in the low rates of organ donation, and may continue to play this role as there is no good way to properly compromise between respecting the values already set in stone and donating organs.

A1. Death Taboos

The aversion of mentioning death in any way, shape, or form in mainstream media contributes majorly to the lack of organ donation in Singapore. The general subject of death is considered taboo, as it usually is considered disrespectful or a bringer of bad luck. (Giger, et al., 2006; Kagawa-Singer & Backhall, 2001; Searight & Gafford, 2005a, 2005b). Because of this, creating situations where people are able to talk or discuss organ donation is extremely difficult due to the direct association it has with the loss of lives.

A2. Religious Backgrounds & Cultural Values

There is no doubt that religion is widely preserved and celebrated in Singapore, with decorations being put up everywhere from malls to community centres during their respective time periods to lessons of Singaporean culture being taught during lessons in school during curriculum time. It is safe to say that our traditions are a big part of our country. However, certain aspects of some religions may affect whether or not a person may be willing to donate their organs, like for example, there is a traditional Chinese belief in which the body must remain intact for a good afterlife (Heng et al., 2016), and a Muslim concern that the dissection of the body may offend god (Liu, 2018). In addition, The Office of the Mufti had to outright issue a statement that states that they support organ donation, with the ruling that all Muslims are forced to follow HOTA only put in action in 2007.

A3. Religion influencing Rationality

The loved ones of the deceased may be hesitant to make the decision to allow the deceased’s organs to be donated, as shown from a study by Frontiers In Public Health in 2021, where they found that only 65% of families would consent to the donation of their family’s organs after brain death. The most commonly cited reasons against organ donation by the other 35% of families are that they “were too upset to come to a proper decision”, and that they “wanted the body to be intact for religious reasons.” The loss of a loved one is surely devastating for the people involved, and having to make the decision to give up their loved one’s body while the emotional wounds are still fresh is sure to make the decision more difficult. However, for the moral dilemma of their cultural concerns to be close to the emotional distress they may face in the situation shows how much their culture means to them and how much culture impacts the whole of Singapore as a whole.

B1. Lack of Awareness on Organ Donation

Despite this, there are many other factors to organ donation being relatively unspoken of, like the limitation of the current education efforts. A study from BioMed Central which assessed Singaporeans of their willingness and their knowledge of corneal donation produced results that show that 73.2% of students had failed the assessment, showing the failure in the education system in not properly being able to bring up nor handle the topic of organ donation, and that only 31% of assessed students were willing to donate their corneas. They found that people who were more informed about organ donation and the specifics of it were 1.71 times more likely to be willing to donate their corneas. It is crystal clear from the results that the general youth is not well informed about organ donation, and this leads to more doubt and uncertainty when faced with the choice of donating their own or any other organs to lend a helping hand.

B2. Future Generations’ Impact

The erosion of our culture and the declining belief of tradition due to today’s youth’s disinterest, though concerning, could contribute massively to organ donation and could save or improve hundreds to thousands of lives and their livelihoods. To add on to this, the youth’s ease of information is a major factor in influencing what they choose to believe in, as depending on what kind of articles they read or what they research, their opinions on their religion might change, be it to strengthen their faith, or to muddy it. Despite that, with how closely guarded our culture is with how safeguarded and written in stone the practice and celebration of our culture is, the prospect of erosion may very well be impossible. With that, there is no clear-cut solution to the impact that conservative culture has on organ donation rates in Singapore, no matter how hard people try.

B3. Conclusion

All in all, conservative culture in Singapore is the root cause for the low organ donation rates in Singapore, due to how the general factors stem from it, be it the taboo of mentioning death to religion influencing the rationality of the people.

Disclaimer: Please note that the views and opinions expressed in the essays for the Live On Festival 2022 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