I REFER to the recent debate regarding kidney transplant and would like to offer my views from the perspective of a dialysis patient.

I have kidney failure. I am employed by a multinational company and undergo dialysis three times a week for a total of 12 hours. About 30 per cent of my pay goes towards my medical care, together with some financial support from my company.

I have two elderly parents, both retired, and do not have any other siblings or close relatives who can donate their kidney to me. I have been waiting for a kidney transplant for many years without success and have often toyed with the idea of going overseas for a transplant but my doctors have discouraged me.

My fear is what will happen in the medium and long run. The statistics are overwhelming - some 600 patients in the queue waiting an average of nine years for a kidney.

Unless you are lucky enough to find a relative or some highly motivated and altruistic donor, there is no legal way for dialysis patients to improve their chances in the painfully slow race against death.

The shortage of organs available has led to a macabre black market and created a new industry of transplant tourism to meet the needs of wealthy patients who generate demand.

I do not support the concept of a kidney market in Singapore but implore the Ministry of Health to come up with innovative ideas to help hundreds of dialysis patients who are tied to machines with no end in sight.

It is odd that the act of giving someone a kidney is considered a noble act, yet as soon as money is involved, it becomes outrageous.

Perhaps the principle of compensation is more acceptable than payment. A regulated system that creates incentives for donors, whatever these incentives may be, may help to save lives, reduce shortages that promote the black market and level the playing field.

We are gripped by the attention the media gives to people dying in natural calamities, but has much thought been given to the number of people dying while waiting for an organ?

Agatha Lau (Ms)

This article was first published in The Straits Times on July 8, 2008.