How socially aware are you?

Admist the glare of the shiny exterior our country portrays and the distractions we face from popular culture, is a whole can of worms lying to be uncovered.

And unless you bother reading the blogs of many excellent bloggers (I'm not talking about myself of course, I just don't have the commitment that these people have), you are never going to find it in the mainstream media.

Well, there may be at times a mention in the local media, but details are selective.
They choose what they want us to see or read.

Why are we always looking towards the glimmer of foreign shores - more concerned about what's happening in those countries.

How much do we truly know about what's happening in our own country?
Do we choose to be so blind about everything by simply giving the excuse that: 'aiya, Singapore is like that, what to do?' and then change the topic of the conversation to the hotest korean drama or taiwanese idol drama on television right now.

Why do we not love our own country?

For the benefit of those interested (I hope I can inspire at least one person to read further), here's a list of good blogs to read. These are definitely bloggers who deserve a lot of respect for their commitment in writing and raising awareness on local issues that are controversial.

Yawning Bread - http://www.yawningbread.org/
Mr Wang - http://mrwangsaysso.blogspot.com/
The Intelligent Singaporean - http://intelligentsingaporean.wordpress.com/
Molly Meek - http://mollymeek.livejournal.com/

And if you really can't take reading... here's a good one full of insightful comics:
My sketchbook - http://seijieiga.blogspot.com/


What inspired me to post this, is a recent article SH and I came across online.
This is something which happened right under our noses. But how many people truly knew about it?

Take time to read this (it affects both you and me):

=============================================

Note: this source is from http://matrixisland.blogspot.com
Actual source, I cannot verify but read on to see other articles on this same topic.

2007-02-08
阻医院移植亲人器官 家属与警察发生冲突
刘丽仪　邓莉蓉

　　中央医院准备为一名中风脑死的病人进行器官移植手术时，家属以病人还有心跳以及“所祈问的神明说病人即将清醒”为理由，一再要求院方将手术延迟。院方不答应家属要求，结果家属于昨天凌晨在医院与到场维持秩序的警察发生肢体冲突。

　　起重机操作员沈智华（45岁）上星期四凌晨约4时在工作时跌倒，送院急救后医生诊断他因脑血管阻塞中风，上身轻微麻痹，但意识仍清醒。

　　沈智华的大哥沈智荣（49岁）受访时告诉本报，弟弟清醒后，一直不能相信自己会中风，又因为在一次要求下床小解被护士拒绝，加上双手又被绑的情况下，情绪因而激动。

沈母率家属跪求
院方挪后移植器官

　　沈智华上星期六陷入昏迷状态，医生在星期一傍晚6时20分宣告他已脑死。

　　院方随即根据人体器官移植法令，要求进行器官移植。不过，家属觉得沈智华仍有心跳，因为他们认为对沈智华说话时，沈智华还会流泪，并轻轻握住大哥的手，于是要求院方多通融两天，让他们转而前往祈求神明的保佑。

　　在沈智华69岁的母亲和10多名家属集体下跪苦苦哀求后，院方同意延至前晚（星期二）10时才进行器官移植。

　　后来，沈智华家属再请示神明，而被“告知”沈智华会在昨晚8时醒来，家属因此希望院方再通融到晚上8时。

家属警员对峙3小时

　　沈智荣说，院方基于弟弟的器官开始衰竭，而且移植手术都安排妥当，在前晚9时30分通知他和表哥两人，希望他们能劝服亲人，好让院方能及时进行移植手术。

　　他说，正当他们试图游说时，院方及警方分别要求所有家属到病房外和医生讨论。而他们一离开病房，立刻有五六名工作人员把沈智华从另一扇门推去手术室，而想冲上前抢人的家属则被挡在门前的警员阻拦，家属激动之下和警方发生了肢体冲突，除了推撞哭喊之外，沈智华的妹妹沈秋兰还咬伤一名警员的手臂。

　　32岁的沈秋兰说，院方这样的做法“形同抢劫”，而当时现场共有20多名警察和医院职员。

　　沈秋兰叙述，她在被警员挡在门外时，气愤不已地咬了警察后被反手铐住，并被关在一个房间内约30分钟。

　　家属跟警员对峙了近3小时，最后在院方职员和护士的安抚下，心情才慢慢平复下来，在昨天凌晨4时办理了手续，将遗体领出。沈智华捐出4个器官，包括两个肾脏和一对眼角膜。

　　警方发言人在接受本报查询时说，警方仍在调查这起事件。

=============================================

Here's the report by our nation building press - ST

Personally I'm 'impressed' by the very defensive title of the article.

Feb 23, 2007
ORGAN DONATION AFTER BRAIN DEATH
Medical team maintained constant contact with kin

WE REFER to all the Forum letters and reports in The Straits Times on the late Mr Sim Tee Hua's organ donation.

We would like to express our regret at the unfortunate incident and the trauma the family went through.

To our nurses, surgeons, anaesthetists and intensivists who have chosen the difficult and challenging career of saving lives, every life is precious. To all patients and their families, they give the same level of commitment and compassion.

Families on the verge of losing a loved one go through emotions of deep grief, a sense of desperation and yet hope for a miracle. This is especially so when the death is untimely and the patient young and seemingly healthy.

Naturally, effort is made to extend counselling and comfort to the family. We understand that the consolation of being able to save other lives through organ donation does not assuage the loss for these families.

We fully sympathise with the shock and pain the family of Mr Sim went through. Our medical team had maintained constant communication with his family from the time his condition worsened on Feb 3, two days after he was hospitalised for the sudden illness.

The team also informed the family about his poor prognosis, and pending the results of tests for brain death, the possibility of organ donation under the Human Organ Transplant Act (Hota).

When his condition deteriorated further, the transplant coordinators from the Ministry of Health's National Organ Transplant Unit (Notu) met the family and explained again the implications of brain death and the organ donation process. The family acknowledged and accepted the information.

In every organ donation situation, the process is extremely time-sensitive. Beyond a certain period, after brain death, organs may no longer be suitable, and the opportunity to save patients with organ failure lost.

In Mr Sim's case, the Notu transplant coordinators readily acceded to the first request to postpone the procedure for 24 hours, after brain death.

However, subsequent postponement would have jeopardised the organ recipients' chances.

The Notu transplant coordinators and hospital staff who were directly involved with caring for Mr Sim were deeply affected by this unfortunate incident as they had been torn between empathising with the emotions of his inconsolable family and the need to save organ-failure patients.

Nonetheless, both MOH and SGH will continue to find practical solutions to minimise the emotional distress of families and staff in such situations.

Dr Arthur Chern
Director (Integrated Health Services)
Ministry of Health

Professor Ng Han Seong
Chairman, Medical Board
Singapore General Hospital

=============================================

This is the report by Reuters (definitely more attention to detail).

So why was the part on the police taken away from our local media?

Scuffle for organs sparks donor debate in Singapore By Koh Gui Qing Wed Feb 28, 9:55 AM ET

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - As members of Sim Tee Hua's family sat at his bedside to pray for his recovery, they were horrified to learn that the hospital staff were about to turn off his life-support machine and use his organs for transplants.

The scenes that followed have shocked and upset not just Sim's family but many other Singaporeans, sparking a debate over the country's organ donor policy, which assumes that all citizens are willing donors, unless they have registered with the government that they wish to opt out.

Doctors at Singapore General Hospital had declared Sim brain-dead and said they could not delay switching off life support any longer because of the risk of damage to Sim's organs.

Sim's family had no objection to his organs being used for transplants but wanted doctors to wait one more day before turning off the life support machine.

But as Sim's 68-year-old mother and about 20 other relatives knelt weeping before the doctors, begging them to wait, nine police officers entered the ward and restrained the distraught family while Sim's body was quickly whisked away.

"The hospital staff were running as they wheeled him out of the back door of the room. They were behaving like robbers," said Sim Chew Hiah, one of Sim's elder sisters.

The Sim family's experience has prompted a wave of letters to the local media, with some people saying they would opt out in protest, and added fire to a debate about organ trading.

Lee Wei Ling -- a prominent doctor who is the daughter of Lee Kuan Yew, the first prime minister of modern Singapore -- last month urged the government to legalize organ trading, or the buying or selling of human organs for cash.

"Organ trading is frowned upon and usually not allowed in countries where political correctness reigns," said Lee in a letter to the Straits Times.

"If monetary incentive makes a potential living donor more willing to save another life, what is wrong in allowing that?"

Her views have some support from the public.

"If I can sell my organs, give my children a better life, and save someone else's life too, why not? Not everyone drives a Mercedes," said Khalid, 32, who gave only his first name.

Currently, anyone caught buying or selling human organs in Singapore may be jailed up to a year or fined up to US$6,500.

POOR DONORS

Those who oppose the trading of human organs say it promotes greater social injustice.

"To trade it and sell it for a 100 pounds, 200 pounds, or to the highest bidder, that is to prostitute your organ," said Dr Choi Kin, president of the Hong Kong Medical Association.

Such donors are likely to be the poor and uneducated people from countries such as Brazil and India, who can sell a kidney for as little as $1,000, the World Health Organization

And they are usually exploited by organ traffickers, who can charge wealthy clients up to $100,000 to $200,000 for a new organ, according to the WHO.

The chronic shortage of organs available for transplant is a global problem. In the U.S. alone, more than 6,200 patients die each year while waiting for an organ, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, a U.S.-based non-profit medical group.

The shortage has forced doctors and governments to look for alternatives, such as the use of pigs' kidneys, hearts and lungs, or the purchase of human organs.

Many patients have also traveled abroad for transplants, notably to China, which has been accused by rights groups of harvesting organs from executed prisoners.

Since 1995, more than 270 Singaporeans have gone abroad, mostly to China, for organ transplants, the Health Ministry said.

DEFINITION OF DEATH

To ease the organ shortage, Singapore amended its Human Organ Transplant Act in 2004 to expand the pool of organ donors and the type of organs that could be donated.

Hospitals can remove the kidneys, liver, heart and corneas of all non-Muslim Singapore citizens or permanent residents when they die, unless they have objected.

Muslims can choose to donate their organs, as in Iran

Iran and Malaysia, although many believe that the dead should be buried with all their organs intact.

Doctors say a system which assumes all citizens are organ donors is necessary because even though many people are in favor of donating their organs, few actually come forward.

While many European countries, including Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, and Spain, have laws similar to Singapore's Transplant Act, it can still be a sensitive issue.

When Brazil passed a similar law in 1998, it triggered a public outcry. The Federal Attorney later conceded that families could prevent the removal of organs for transplant.

Critics say laws which assume all citizens are organ donors are inadequate because the definition of death is debatable. Others are concerned that life-support may be turned off prematurely or that people may be unaware of the opt-out option.

"It should be up to the citizens to decide. These are their bodies, their organs, and therefore their decisions," said Dr Choi Kin. "If an accident should occur, it would be too late for them to opt out, even if they do not agree to donate."

In Singapore, some doctors had urged amending the Transplant Act, giving families the right to block such donations.

After the outcry over the Sim family's forced donation, the hospital and health ministry said in a statement that they would "continue to find practical solutions to minimize the emotional distress of families and staff in such situations."

Sim's kidneys went to patients who had waited six to eight years for donor organs, the ministry said.

His parents were offered five years of subsidized hospital fees -- and his family received a thank-you letter from the ministry for their "generous organ donation."

========================================================

So, here's the gist of it.

- Every Singaporean (except Muslims) is automatically opted in for organ donation.
- You will need to go fill in a form in order to opt out (more details from the MOH site).

I honestly admit, I didn't know about this at all till now.

I believe that there is no point keeping my organs if I'm really near death's bed.
However, if this system makes it compulsory for everyone to be opted in, without the family having the right to give a go ahead as to when the organ donation takes place, then its called an abuse.

Now its not a matter of taking away a substantial amount of your hard earned monthly salary for country investments. Its taking away what your family believes could be the slightest hope for you to return to them.

Now its not a matter of the police surrounding Dr Chee and his sister who are trying to march to the IMF meetings at Suntec City. Its police surrounding family members who simply wish to give one more day of life to the one they care about.

Personally, I was really stunned by this news. I hope those who read this now, will be too.
Question what you read in the main media, and take time whenever you can to read up what's on the blogosphere.

If you are a Singaporean, know the place you are living in.