By Teo Cheng Wee

For eight years, security guard Allan Wee waited, and waited.

He was diagnosed with kidney failure in 1997, but it was not until 2005 that he finally got a transplant.

As he endured kidney dialysis three times a week during those years, the bachelor thought about going overseas for a kidney transplant.

Eventually he resisted, on the advice of his doctor here. 'I asked him about it, but he said it may not be safe. He said it's better to get a kidney in Singapore,' said Mr Wee, 44.

One of his friends, who is in his 50s and also suffered from kidney failure, was not so patient. Less than a year ago, he spent $30,000 to go to China for a kidney transplant.

'He heard that dialysis was painful. He didn't want to go through it, so he went to China within half a year of his diagnosis,' Mr Wee recalled, adding that the friend is now in good health.

Indeed, facing a lengthy wait with no apparent end in sight, patients who suffer from kidney failure can be driven to desperation, doctors told The Sunday Times.

After all, there are about 600 people waiting for a kidney here, with an average waiting time of nine years.

Organ trading is banned here and in most countries worldwide, but the practice continues to take place.

Over the years, more than 300 Singaporeans have gone overseas for a transplant.

In the first case of its kind here, two Indonesian men pleaded guilty to offences linked to organ trading last Friday. They agreed to sell their kidneys for over $20,000 each to patients here - one of whom was cited in court documents as Mr Tang Wee Sung, executive chairman of retail company CK Tang.

Professor A. Vathsala, director of the adult renal transplantation programme at the National University Hospital, estimated that 20 to 40 patients with kidney failure here go overseas for a transplant every year. But it is far rarer for a Singaporean to get a donor from overseas to perform a transplant here, she said.

It is not just patients who are fuelling the organ trade though - sellers also want to trade their organs for a quick buck.

A Sunday Times check on organ sellers online turned up at least five websites. One 34-year-old Indonesian woman wanted US$25,000 (S$34,000) for her kidney.

They have even turned to doctors to peddle their organs.

Dr Pary Sivaraman, a renal specialist at Mount Elizabeth Hospital, receives three to five e-mail messages every few weeks from people looking to sell their kidneys, mostly from India and Indonesia.

He said there are usually two kinds of e-mail. The first kind, which is more common, involves someone selling himself as a healthy, young, willing seller who has done all the necessary medical check-ups.

The second goes for a more sympathetic tone - perhaps saying his family is suffering and he needs the money.

Internationally, Prof Vathsala has heard stories of people getting 'married' so that they can get a kidney for transplant - then promptly filing for divorce after that.

She also cited examples of whole villages overseas being victims of organ trafficking. Most of these sellers are desperate, poor and illiterate, and looking for a quick way out of poverty.

Dr Sivaraman added that although organ trading was wrong, one 'should not moralise about the patients'.

'A lot of people take drastic measures only because they're in drastic situations. Only the caregiver and patient can understand what they're going through,' he said.

Other doctors agree it is hard to punish these patients, even if they had a transplant overseas.

'Sometimes, patients need medical attention back home after receiving a kidney from abroad,' said Dr Pwee Hock Swee, a renal specialist from Mount Elizabeth Hospital.

'The last thing to do is to prosecute them.'

chengwee@sph.com.sg

shulis@sph.com.sg

Send your comments to suntimes@sph.com.sg