A MAN passes on his name after he dies, and a leopard, his skin, goes an old Chinese proverb. Mr Sam Tan (Tanjong Pagar GRC) suggested turning that proverb around yesterday, in a bid to get more people to come forward and donate their skin.
'Presumably the ancients liked to leave a good name or a lasting reputation behind, and perhaps leopard skins were once highly treasured,' he said in Mandarin. Today, however, donated skin could save a burn victim's life and there are just not enough of such donors here, he told the House during the debate on the budget of the Health Ministry.
'The Chinese say, you cannot take your wealth and possessions with you when you die. The same goes for your body. 'Since you cannot take it with you, why not leave behind your skin after you die? 'This would allow a sick person in need of a skin graft to have a shot at life,' said the MP.
In a separate speech in English, he said that, on average, only two to four people here pledge to donate their skin every year. In comparison, Australia had 57 donors in the first eight months of last year, while the New York metro area saw 173 skin donors in 2006. Replying, Mr Heng Chee How, the Minister of State for Health, noted that there are an average of eight deaths a year from severe burns. Most victims die from severe injuries and not because of the lack of skin grafts.
Nevertheless, Mr Heng encouraged more people to consider pledging their skin and other organs for donation. The Human Organ Transplant Act (Hota) presumes that a person aged between 21 and 60 has agreed to donate his vital organs when he dies, unless he has opted out. However, it allows for only kidney, heart, liver and cornea donations. Singaporeans can pledge to donate their skin under a separate Act, the Medical (Therapy, Education and Research) Act, said Mr Heng.
Since 1998, over 100 people here have benefited from skin grafts. Most of them had extensive burn injuries. Skin donation does not mean that a dead person will be stripped of all his skin, Mr Tan noted. Only 0.25mm to 0.4mm of skin is shaved off.
The MP said he himself had signed up for skin donation, joking that he would 'take this as a final spa treatment before embarking on the next journey'.
March 2008
By Clarissa Oon
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