Muslims in Singapore will now automatically become organ donors, like all other citizens of the state. The new Human Organ Transplant Act doesn’t require written permission Muslims anymore, in which they had to declare that they were willing to donate their organs in case of death. To actively declare themselves as donors has led to a massive shortage of Muslim organ donations. That also meant that many Muslims weren’t eligible to receive a transplant themselves because only potential donors were given priority in cases of emergency. According to news reports more than 120 Muslims are currently waiting for an organ transplant, hundreds are said to have died while waiting for a transplantation.

Fatwa revoked

Last month Singapore’s Islamic authority issued an edict that said local Muslims should be assumed to be willing organ donors, thus lifting an earlier fatwa which demanded the donor’s written consent. Fatris Bakaram from the Islamic Council in Singapore explains the decision: “We were convinced that there had to be exceptions to the rule. If an organ transplant is necessary then we have to accept that there will be a delay before we can bury our dead. And that’s also accepted by the Islamic scholars.”

The probable delay of the burial was the major factor against organ donations by the Muslims. If Muslims still wanted to donate their organs it was necessary to have a least two male members of family as witnesses. These obstacles may explain why only 16,000 of 300,000 of Singapore’s Muslims officially registereds organ donors.

Waiting period reduced

Ameerali Abdeali, chairman of the Muslim Kidney Action Association in Singapore, is convinced that the new transplantation law will make more organs available to Muslims: “The waiting period will be drastically reduced – nowadays it is five to seven years. Muslim patients wouldn’t have to wait that long anymore; they would have the same rights as any other Singaporean.”

The new law will certainly increase the numbers of available organ transplantations in the city state and yet gives ample opportunities to Muslims to opt out of the programme during their lifetime.