![Singapore may allow sale of human kidneys: health minister](https://www.jurist.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/jurist-white-text.png)
[JURIST] Singapore's Minister for Health Khaw Boon Wan [official profile] announced [press release] on Monday that the country is considering allowing donors to sell their kidneys to those seeking transplants. Boon Wan made the announcement before the country's parliament and said that the highly controversial plan was needed because of the high demand for kidney transplants. Boon Wan also said the government is considering raising the maximum age for deceased donors from whom it will accept kidneys, an approach more accepted by critics of the so-called "kidney trading" plan, who have also suggested that the country encourage more extended family members of potential transplantees to volunteer their organs if compatible. AP has more. The Straits Times has local coverage.
Kidney and all other organ transplants in Singapore are governed by the Human Organ Transplant Act [text; government FAQ], which allows doctors to take certain organs from recently deceased residents between the ages of 21 and 60 unless they have explicitly opted out of the program. It currently prohibits "monetary inducements" for the living donation of organs and earlier this month two Indonesian men who had tried to sell their kidneys were jailed and fined [AFP report].