By Low Ching Ling

The issue:

Supporters ask, why not if it can save more lives?

Critics decry it as unethical and insist on altruistic donations.

The Government has said it won't rule out legalising organ trading. Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan has even talked about what he sees as an acceptable model of organ trading.

Experts say:

Organ trading is likely to be legalised as long as it is controlled.

National University of Singapore political science professor Bilveer Singh said: 'It is a necessary evil. Not legalising it will not stop it anyway... If people are prepared to pay for it, why not?'

It boils down to being practical, Singapore Management University law professor Eugene Tan said.

'The tendency is for the Government to adopt pragmatic approaches to problems and challenges.'

The reality? Altruism alone has not produced enough organ donations.

Prof Tan added: '(So) legalising the trade (would be) seen by the Government as having the dual benefits of increasing the supply of organs and preventing large-scale abuse of donors, as well as dealing with health concerns relating to organs grafted overseas.'

Or, as Dr Terence Chong, a fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, puts it, it is about a human need.

'The suffering of a person in need of an organ is more important than the puritan fetish many moralists have over the thought of exchanging a body part for money,' he said.

'Any true humanist would put the suffering of a patient above all considerations. Moralists tend to put outdated dogma over human beings.'

Dr Singh has no qualms about what he would do if he was a kidney patient.

'I'd rather go for a kidney transplant overseas than live the rest of my life on a dialysis machine until I benefit from a donor,' he said.

This article was first published in The New Paper on August 25, 2008.