Renal transplantation at the Singapore General Hospital: a miracle in the making over 50 years

Abstract

Background: This paper documents the history of the renal transplant programme at Singapore General Hospital. Renal transplantation in Singapore was born out of a necessity to offer a cheaper alternative to the expensive and scarce dialysis treatments in the 1970s. As a result, the first deceased kidney donor transplant was performed in 1970 at what Singapore General Hospital was then called ‘the Outram General Hospital’. However, deceased donation rates were dismal and prompted the start of a living kidney donor transplant programme in 1976 at Singapore General Hospital. Unfortunately, the prevalent population of patients with end-stage renal failure rapidly grew while kidney donation rates remain poor despite active efforts to raise awareness and even importing unwanted kidneys from other countries. Discussion: As a result, an opting-out legislation called the Human Organ Transplant Act was introduced in 1987 and increased the rate of deceased kidney donor transplantation in Singapore. Over the next two decades, access to kidney transplantation was further expanded with the introduction of living unrelated kidney donor transplantation and laparoscopic donor nephrectomy. In the past 10 years, there have been further advances in kidney transplantation with the introduction of newer immunosuppressive agents and technologies to perform incompatible kidney transplantation. The Human Organ Transplant Act has also been amended to allow the use of older deceased donors and permit paired kidney donor exchanges. Conclusion: Despite these many advances, kidney donation rates remain low and are even declining. This would certainly be the major challenge for the renal transplant programme in the next 50 years to come.