Angel Goh Wei Ling, 28

Topic: Positive impact of one's donation across different levels of society

Award: Fourth Place, Open Category, 2024

Organ Donation – The Light at the End of the Tunnel

Shattered with organ failures, organ donation can bring light into the bleak lives of the affected individuals. Organ donation is a very noble way to let the donor’s legacy to continue living in this world and give the recipients a second chance in life. Its far-reaching implications are not limited to individuals but are also extended to different levels of the society including families, communities, healthcare systems and the country. These positive impacts should move more of our people to saying ‘yes’ to organ donations.

Firstly, at the most personal and immediate level, organ donation directly impacts the lives of the recipients. The organ recipients whose lives are cut short, can now live longer with the gift of life from the donors. Organ donations can save the recipients’ lives in life-threatening medical emergencies or significantly improve the quality of life for whom suffer chronic diseases. For instance, patients with end-stage renal failure or chronic liver failure such as liver cirrhosis can advantage from living organ donations, giving them a beacon of hope to live life better. These group of patients with deteriorating kidney and liver functions suffer greatly not only physically but also mentally and financially. End-stage renal failure patients often have to undergo dialysis such as haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis. Taking haemodialysis as an example, patients have to go to dialysis centres thrice weekly for 4 hours. This will take away precious time to commit to work. The high cost from dialysis will put financial strain to the individuals. With successful organ transplants, these impacted individuals are able to live life again, pursuing their education or career, spending more quality time with their families and contributing back to the society in various ways. The hefty financial burdens from the medical costs of hospitalisation, consultations and medications can also be lifted off their shoulders after the transplants.

Next, as for the families of recipients, organ donation can assuage the emotional burdens. Having a loved one restored to health from organ transplants is indeed a miracle to most. On the flip side, the families of the donors will also find solace in knowing that their loved ones’ organs have saved or improved lives in this world. This selfless act of kindness provides a sense of meaning to the families of the deceased donors even in the times of grief and sorrow. For example, patients with advanced heart failure often have to suffer poor quality of life, persistent breathing difficulties despite optimal medical therapy and multiple hospital admissions. With very few options available, most patients will opt for device implantation called LVAD (left ventricular assisted device) due to the limited hearts available for transplants. Living with a LVAD is a tedious routine as one has to care for the device and ensure the batteries do not run out. This routine can be mentally exhausting in the long-run to the patients and caregivers. The shocks delivered by the LVAD during heart stops can be intolerable to some. Hence, heart transplants will greatly benefit these patients who are dependent on the artificial heart to continue living. The families of the heart donors would be more accepting of their loss, knowing that their loved one’s heart is still pumping inside someone’s body in this world.

Meanwhile, organ donation also creates a positive ripple effect to the community level. This is substantial especially for a multiracial country like Singapore where specific communities may have higher incidences of certain diseases and greater needs for transplants. Having more organs donated in specific pools can boost the chances of successful transplants due to the close genetic compatibility between the donor and recipient if they share the same ethnic background. This can positively shorten the waiting time needed for the recipients in the group. Campaigns around organ donation can nurture community engagement and support the spirit of altruism. People learn to extend a helping hand to those in need, cultivating benevolence in the society. On the hindsight, organ recipients whom lives are given another shot will learn not to take things for granted particularly their health.

Besides, organ donation also has fundamental impacts on the local healthcare system. It can allay the strain on healthcare resources. For example, kidney failure patients will require long-term medical follow ups, extensive list of medications and frequent visits to the dialysis centres. This can exhaust the healthcare resources used in other areas. With more kidney transplants, the recipients will have lesser hospital stays and dialysis centre visits, thus freeing up more resources and reducing the waiting times for other patients to receive medical treatments. While the initial costs of organ transplants are high, they are actually more cost-effective in overall expenses associated with the long-term care of the chronic conditions. This redirects better allocation of healthcare personnel and funds. Organ donation also promotes public awareness to adopt healthier lifestyles such as eating healthy, exercise regularly and avoiding smoking. These preventive measures are imperative to reduce the medical conditions leading to organ failures if left uncontrolled such as diabetes and hypertension. This can ultimately improve the public health.

Organ donation also facilitates the medical research and innovation for better healthcare advancement. Although the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA) mainly aims for treatment and transplant, altruistic organ donors can also opt in to contribute their organs for research and education under Medical (Therapy, Education and Research) Act (MTERA). One can pledge to donate an organ, tissue and/or whole body for studies purposes and discovery of life-changing treatments. Donated organs serve as valuable biological materials for medical education to study the mechanisms of various diseases. Researchers can utilise this opportunity to gain insights into the disease development and progression. Medical students or surgeons can also grasp the opportunity to practice their surgical skills and anatomy knowledge on the donated organs. This hands-on experience is essential to produce competent and skilled medical practitioners. The donated tissues also serve as a platform to test new drugs for safety and efficacy evaluation. Stem cell therapies including tissue engineering using the donated organs can be a cutting-edge approach to revolutionise organ failure treatments in the future. Overall, organ donation can promote substantial medical advancements including new treatments, surgical techniques as well as broader applications in treating other diseases.

Lastly, organ donation also significantly impacts the economic growth of a country in various mechanisms. These include reducing healthcare costs, improving productivity due to increased healthier population and supporting the growth of medical and pharmaceutical industries. Reduced healthcare expenses are prominent especially in kidney transplant recipients. The transplant eliminates the need of lifelong dialysis which can save up substantial amount of nation’s funds to be reallocated to other areas. Government can also save costs from lesser fund dependency from subsidies. These savings can be redirected towards other economic development initiatives. Also, the country will have a healthier labour market to boost the nation’s economic growth. Previously incapacitated individuals by chronic diseases are able to return to work after organ transplants, shrinking the economic burden of lost productivity. This indirectly attracts more foreign investments into the country. Related industries expanding into the country such as biotechnology and pharmaceuticals with innovations can also create more job opportunities. Hence, the overall standards of living are greatly improved with the drastic leap in the nation’s economic growth.

To sum it up, organ donation has profound and multifaceted impacts across different levels of society. Its benefits are extensive including saving lives, relieving financial burdens, fostering altruism, alleviating healthcare costs, driving medical advancements and boosting economy. It may not be a spontaneous yes to everyone when it comes to organ donations due to various reasons. Everyone deserves a second chance in life but not everyone is lucky to live twice. Organ donation can really save one from a deep abyss of organ failures. If you are reading this, do give yourself a second chance to make an imperative change in one’s life. Live On, Live Twice!

Disclaimer: Please note that the views and opinions expressed in the essays for the Live On Festival 2024 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