Amendment of the Human Organ Transplant Act

On 6 January 2004, the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA) was amended to allow more Singaporeans to benefit from organ donation. The main amendments to HOTA were (a) to extend HOTA beyond kidneys to include livers, hearts and corneas; (b) to extend HOTA beyond deaths due to accidents to include all causes of deaths; and (c) to extend HOTA beyond cadaveric organ donation to also regulate living donor organ transplants. In this article, we review the amendments to HOTA and the Interpretation (Determination and Certification of Death) Regulations and examine the impact of HOTA on organ procurement and transplantation in Singapore.