Seniors in Singapore Overcome Challenges to Donate Kidneys

Doctors Say Older People Can Have Just as Profound Impact on Lives as Younger Donors

- Judith Tan

Despite undergoing treatment for a bulging blood vessel near the spleen just a month earlier, former church manager Chan Yew Weng, 68, donated a kidney to his daughter-in-law Hazel Tan, 35, in January.

Retiree Marjorie Tey, 59, also donated a kidney to her husband, Mr Tan Kim Loon – a gift that marked his 60th birthday, which fell on National Day.

Mr Chan and Madam Tey are among a small group of older live organ donors in Singapore. Despite their age, doctors said seniors can have just as profound an impact on lives as younger donors.

In Singapore, the two main hospitals with well-established kidney transplant programmes are the National University Hospital (NUH) and Singapore General Hospital (SGH).

The National University Centre for Organ Transplantation (Nucot) at NUH has a strong track record in both living and deceased donor transplants, while SGH has the oldest and largest renal transplant programme in the country.

The first kidney transplant in Singapore – involving a dead donor – took place in 1970, according to SingHealth’s website. This was followed by the first living related donor transplant in 1976.

In 2024, Singapore had 103 kidney transplants – 57 cases involving living donors and 46 with dead donors.

The average wait time for a kidney from a dead donor is 97 months, or around eight years, according to a website of the National Organ Transplant Unit.

Since its establishment in 1970, Nucot has facilitated kidney donations from 65 people aged 60 and above, including Singapore’s oldest kidney donor at age 79.

Adjunct Associate Professor Hersharan Kaur Sran, medical director of the Adult Kidney Transplantation Programme at Nucot, said: “On average, a living donor transplant in Nucot, which has one of the best outcomes in the world, (allows the kidney to survive for) around 21 years.”