ASIA: NKF fund reimburses five kidney donors

[okarol]

ASIA:  NKF fund reimburses five kidney donors

The Health Ministry hopes to raise Singapore's average of seven live transplants per million population. -myp

Tue, Apr 06, 2010
my paper

By PAMELA CHOW

FIVE living kidney donors have been allowed to receive reimbursement for their medical expenses and loss of income from donating the organ, under a National Kidney Foundation (NKF) fund set up last November.

Two of them have yet to undergo the operation.

Mr Gerard Ee, the NKF's chairman, said at its 41st anniversary celebration yesterday: "This certainly augurs well for more kidney transplants to take place in the future."

The $10-million Kidney Live Donor Support Fund had been set up after the Human Organ Transplant Act was amended last year to let living organ donors be reimbursed.

The Health Ministry hopes to raise Singapore's average of seven live transplants per million population, said its director of medical services, Professor K. Satkunanantham, yesterday.

He cited Norway, with an average of 21 live transplants per million population, as a role model.

Yesterday, the NKF also launched its Caregivers Support Programme, under which it will start a Caregivers Support Group that will meet for two hours weekly over six weeks, from next month.

Under this collaboration with the Asian Women's Welfare Association (AWWA), experts from the AWWA Centre for Caregivers will train caregivers on how to cope, such as building supportive relationships between them and patients, said the centre's director, Ms Sangeet Raj Gopal.

In future, the NKF may also organise educational workshops for caregivers.

One of the 40 caregivers whom the NKF has identified for the group, Mr Oh Cheang Soon, 74, has been stressed by caring for his wife of 40 years.

Madam Chong Hang Peng, 62, who has been undergoing dialysis for four years, had her right leg amputated below the knee late last year when her diabetes worsened, leaving her almost immobile.

Mr Oh said: "She wakes me up four to five times at night, asking me to help turn her over... My body is aching, but I can't even get any rest... Sometimes I yell at her, because there's too much pressure."

Hopefully, the programme will help him cope better with the stress, he said.

pamelac@sph.com.sg
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http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20100406-208710.html