Cadaver

Singapore is not country of freedom. It holds true even after you leave this mortal world.

During my last two weeks to the liver team of the hospital. The professor, knowing my special interest in liver transplant, told me briefly how did the transplant team work.

The keyword was frequently appeared as answers in many questions. It was multidisciplinary. But this time, the Singapore government played an essential role for the transplant surgery. They have made policies to take the organs from the dead body from the citizens who died in the country, whenever it is useful.

Huh? The people cannot own their own organs? It is true in Singapore. The senior doctors told the juniors that when they are to talk to the relatives of the patients, they should not tell them there is an option of retaining the organs, for it is not an option.

Of course, it has been one of the most important factors that contribute the success of the operations in Singapore: there are two governmental hospitals and one private institution to provide the operations (though the private hospital is not able to get the cadaverous organs from the government, the competitions of the organs from the livings are smaller). With a larger population and similar needs of liver transplant surgery, Hong Kong has only one hospital to provide this curative surgery.

It is very struggling for me to choose which is better. As a student who is interested in clinical research and a doctor-to-be who want to help more living patients, I strongly support the ideas of the Singaporean government. But as a human being, I cannot say that government take the consent for the dying patients to get their organs when they leave the world is justifiable.

Again it is the fight between the individual right and the national need.