KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia’s organ transplant system is “25 years behind” its neighbours, forcing desperate patients to seek illegal and costly organs overseas.
This was the stark message delivered by a consortium of doctors and patient advocates after a presentation to the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Health recently.
After decades of stalled progress, the Wira Transplant Malaysia Consortium laid bare the critical state of the system, making an impassioned plea for sweeping reforms to save the thousands of lives being lost each year.
Speaking to Scoop, Dr Mohamad Zaimi Abdul Wahab, president of the Malaysian Society of Transplantation, painted a grim picture of the current ecosystem.
He noted that despite Malaysia having performed transplants for 50 years, the nation is tragically playing catch-up.
“Thailand is doing much better than us. Vietnam is also catching up,” Dr Zaimi said.
“We were the pioneers, the first in Southeast Asia, but now we are playing catch-up. We are 25 years behind.”
He revealed the harrowing reality faced by patients on extensive waiting lists, some of whom resort to dangerous measures out of desperation.
“When they travel abroad, now Cambodia is the hotspot. They pay US$250,000 (about RM1 million) for a transplant,” he said, exposing the dark reality of transplant tourism born from domestic failure.
The core of the problem, Dr Zaimi explained, is a fragmented system with no central authority.
Responsibilities are scattered across different ministries and the private sector, leading to inconsistent policies and no unified national waiting list for vital organs like hearts, lungs, and livers.
Patient-turned-advocate Siva Kumar Raghavan, who shared his personal ordeal with the committee, described himself as a “victim of the system.”
His story is a testament to both the system’s failings and the resilience of patients; while on dialysis, he has successfully climbed Mount Kinabalu twice to raise awareness.
The consortium highlighted that while “dialysis sustains life, transplantation transforms it.”
Patients who receive a new organ can return to a normal, productive life, contributing to their families and the economy.
To address the chronically low donation rates, the consortium proposed an innovative solution: a nationally endorsed social takaful scheme to incentivise organ pledging.
The concept, aimed at tackling what they term a “behaviour problem,” would automatically provide anyone who pledges their organs with a free takaful plan covering death or total permanent disability, valued between RM20,000 to RM50,000.
The plan would be sponsored by corporate or government-linked companies as part of their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) initiatives, costing nothing to the pledger, and would provide crucial financial security to their families.
The goal is to grow the number of pledgers from the current 400,000 to one million by 2026 and three million by 2030.
The consortium made it clear that this presentation was only the beginning. They are pushing for the establishment of a National Transplant Institute to serve as a central command for all transplant activities, from donor procurement to public awareness.
The PSC session, chaired by Pulai MP Suhaizan Kaiat and his deputy Sim Tze Sin of Bayan Baru, was attended by MPs from both sides of the political divide, including Datuk Adnan Abu Hassan (Kuala Pilah), Young Syefura Othman (Bentong), and Datuk Dr Ahmad Yunus Hairi (Kuala Langat).
The message from the advocates was unequivocal: the time for incremental progress is over.
“It has been 50 years already. The time to act is now,” Dr Zaimi stressed.
Also present at the presentation to the PSC were Wira Transplant Malaysia president Manvir Victor, Standard Chartered Saadiq Bank’s Datuk Syed Moheeb Syed Kamarulzaman, president of Towerrunning Malaysia Ravinder Singh, and Nur Batrisyia Amalya Samsudin from Vital Signs Asia. – November 4, 2025