Human Organ Transplant Regulations 2004 - Singapore Statutes Online

No. S 213

Human Organ Transplant Act

(Chapter 131A)

Human Organ Transplant Regulations 2004

In exercise of the powers conferred by sections 15A (3) and 19 of the Human Organ Transplant Act, Mr Khaw Boon Wan, Senior Minister of State, Ministry of Finance, charged with the responsibility of the Minister for Health, hereby makes the following Regulations:

Citation and commencement

1. These Regulations may be cited as the Human Organ Transplant Regulations 2004 and shall come into operation on 1st July 2004.

Definitions

2. In these Regulations, unless the context otherwise requires —

“donor”, in relation to a living donor organ transplant, means the person from whom a specified organ is or will be removed for the purpose of its transplantation into the body of another living person;

“recipient”, in relation to a living donor organ transplant, means the person into whose body a specified organ is or will be transplanted.

Forms for Parts II and III of Act

3.—(1) The form for authorising the removal of any organ from the body of a person under section 5(1) of the Act shall be in Form 1 in the First Schedule.

(2) The form for the objection to the removal of any organ under section 9(1) of the Act shall be in Form 2 in the First Schedule.

(3) The form for the acknowledgment of receipt of the objection to the removal of any organ under section 9(2) of the Act shall be in Form 3 in the First Schedule.

(4) The form for the withdrawal of the objection to the removal of any organ under section 11(1) of the Act shall be in Form 4 in the First Schedule.

(5) The form for the acknowledgment of the withdrawal of the objection to the removal of any organ under section 11(2) of the Act shall be in Form 5 in the First Schedule.

Approval and appointment of transplant ethics committees

4.—(1) For the purpose of establishing transplant ethics committees under Part IVA of the Act, the licensee of a hospital shall, with the approval of the Director, establish —

(a)	a panel of medical practitioners employed or otherwise connected with the hospital;
(b)	a panel of medical practitioners not employed or otherwise connected with the hospital; and
(c)	a panel of lay persons.

(2) The licensee of a hospital shall, when applying for the approval of the Director under paragraph (1), submit to the Director the names and curriculum vitae of the persons to comprise the panels referred to in that paragraph.

(3) Subject to paragraph (4), the licensee of a hospital shall, from time to time as the circumstances may require, appoint a transplant ethics committee comprising 3 members, one member to be appointed from each of the panels referred to in paragraph (1).

(4) The licensee of a hospital may, with the approval of the Director, appoint one or more additional members to the transplant ethics committee.

(5) Subject to the provisions of the Act and these Regulations, a transplant ethics committee may make rules to regulate its own procedure.

(6) The licensee of a hospital may, with the approval of the Director, change the membership of any of the panels referred to in paragraph (1).

Procedures of transplant ethics committees

5.—(1) Every transplant ethics committee shall assess and give its written assessment, in a timely manner, of an application for its written authorisation of a living donor organ transplant under section 15A(1) of the Act.

(2) The quorum of any meeting of a transplant ethics committee shall be 3 members, of whom —

(a)	one shall be a medical practitioner employed or otherwise connected with the hospital;
(b)	one shall be a medical practitioner not employed or otherwise connected with the hospital; and
(c)	one shall be a lay person,

and no decision shall be made unless such a quorum is present.

(3) Subject to paragraph (6)(b), where an application for the written authorisation of a transplant ethics committee is assessed at a meeting of the transplant ethics committee, a person —

(a)	who is directly involved in the care of the donor or the recipient; or
(b)	who will be involved in the removal of any specified organ from the body of the donor or the transplantation of the specified organ to the body of the recipient,

shall not be present at the meeting.

(4) A decision at any meeting of a transplant ethics committee shall be adopted by a consensus of the members present.

(5) Every transplant ethics committee shall —

(a)	submit a copy of the report of every decision made by it in authorising any living donor organ transplant or otherwise to the Director within 7 days of the date of the decision; and
(b)	keep and maintain every report referred to in sub-paragraph (a).

(6) A transplant ethics committee may, when assessing any application for the written authorisation of a living donor organ transplant —

(a)	request for such additional information or document to be provided by the applicant as it may consider necessary; or
(b)	interview the donor, the recipient or any other person in relation to the application.

Additional considerations for giving of written authorisations

6. Every transplant ethics committee shall, in addition to the considerations specified in section 15A(2) of the Act, have regard to the considerations of public interest and community values when assessing an application for its written authorisation of a living donor organ transplant.

Forms for Part IVA of Act

7.—(1) The form for applying for the written authorisation of a transplant ethics committee under section 15A(1) of the Act —

(a)	shall be in Form 1 in the Second Schedule; and
(b)	shall be made by the medical practitioner who is principally responsible for the care of the donor.

(2) The form for authorising, or otherwise, the removal of a specified organ from the body of a living person by a transplant ethics committee under section 15A(1) of the Act shall be in Form 2 in the Second Schedule.

Offence

8. Any person who makes any declaration or statement in relation to an application for the written authorisation of a transplant ethics committee under section 15A(1) of the Act which is false or misleading in a material particular shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding $2,000 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to both.

Revocation

9. The Human Organ Transplant Regulations (Rg 1) are revoked.

Made this 19th day of April 2004.

MOSES LEE

Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Health,
Singapore.

[MH 78:18/1 Vol. 6; AG/LEG/SL/131A/2003/1 Vol. 1]

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