Calls for skin donation to be included under HOTA

Doctors hope the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA) will include skin donation on its list, as Singapore faces a severe shortage in its bank. And it has had to get help from countries like the US and Australia. The call for more skin donations was emphasized at a forum on Management of Burns held at the National Library on Saturday. It was oganised by the Burns Support Group and the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) Burns Centre. Some six months ago, 3rd Sergeant Karthigayan Ramakrishnan was wheeled into SGH for burns treatment following a Taiwan fighter jet crash incident. After spending eight weeks in hospital, the 24-year-old burns survivor is now out and about. Karthigayan has gone through multiple operations and skin grafts, but he still has two more minor surgeries ahead of him. Karthigayan and other burns survivors, through their experience, are more convinced than ever of the critical need for skin donation here in Singapore. "Donor skin is very important because as soon as they cover you up (with the donated skin), it helps in the treatment and the healing process. To be very frank, I was very ignorant about it, and I never realised that it could happen to me," said Karthigayan. "We've got to create the kind of awareness; it's something that can happen to anybody... not just military men or firemen," he added.

Another recovering survivor, 26-year-old Chia Hiang Yong, was burnt after his motorbike caught fire two months ago. "The number of skin we get over the past year is amazingly little, compared with other transplants like heart transplants and all that. I think skin should also be part of the HOTA as well," said Chia.



At the forum, experts gave an update on the skin bank. "Over a 10-year period since 1998, we've had about 97 of the severe burn victims benefiting from about 320,000 square centimeters of donated skin, roughly half the size of a badminton court. 49 Singaporeans who have departed and passed on donated just over 100,000 square centimeters of skin. So we had a shortfall of about 220,000 square centimeters," said Dr Colin Song, Senior Consultant & Head of Singapore General Hospital Burns Centre. He said Singaporeans' donations to the skin bank only met a third of the burn victims' needs. Going forward, he said other countries like Australia are also running low in its skin bank, making it more crucial for Singapore to beef up its own supply.

November 2007
By May wong