‘S’ (M13) is a 29-year old migrant worker from Thanjavur, India, who worked in Singapore for 4.5 years in both the construction & waste management industries. ‘S’ recently returned to India for treatment after a diagnosis at SGH revealed that he was suffering from end stage renal failure (ESRF). He received this diagnosis after visiting the hospital for blurred vision and while admitted at SGH he was informed that his kidney disease was at Stage 5 (end stage) and that he was in need of immediate dialysis to prolong his life.
S (M13)
S (M13)
Start Date
Sep 13, 2021
Deadline
Oct 31, 2021
Progress
0%
Last Update: November 14, 2021
Asking Amount
SGD 14244
Amount Left
SGD 0
Nature of Need
Medical
Undergoing dialysis first requires a fistula procedure and a waiting time of approximately a month for the fistula passage to mature before the treatment can begin. Doctors in Singapore advised him to seek a transplant, as a lifetime of dialysis would be very expensive given that ‘S’ is only 29-years old. ‘S’s father in India volunteered to donate one of his kidneys to him and as they are family members, the chances of organ rejection reduces significantly. Given the high costs of treatment in Singapore and potential long-term benefit of a kidney transplant, ‘S’ chose to go to India for his treatment.
During this time, his company informed him that he was covered by insurance for his initial hospital stay, and that it was his choice if he wanted to stay in Singapore to work and undergo dialysis three times a week here, or return to India for dialysis and get a potential transplant. After he decided to go to India, his company and fellow colleagues, who are also migrant workers, set up an internal fundraiser, which raised SGD $1,675 for him. The company passed him this money, along with one month’s salary, to support his immediate needs.
‘S’ flew to India on 30th May, and used this sum of money to begin his dialysis treatment and conduct all the necessary tests to confirm his and his father’s suitability for transplant. The money was also used to pay for his travel costs to and from his home to a larger hospital in Trichy, which is equipped to provide the treatment he needs.
As of right now, ‘S’ and his father have been approved for the transplant, and have received a quote of Rs. 780,600 [~ SGD 14,244] for the surgery. ‘S’ has used up all of the money he had to pay for transport and hospital costs up to this point. His brother also took a small loan to help him pay for these costs.
We are fundraising SGD 11,244 out of the overall cost of SGD 14,244 by 15th of October. We are allocating SGD 3,000 to ‘S’ listing from our Standing Solidarity Fund. He can book a surgery as long as he has the money to pay for it, and his hope is that he can get the surgery in late October. If we do not fundraise the SGD 11,244 by then, ‘S’ will have to book a later surgery date. A later surgery date will mean ‘S’ will be incurring extra costs for additional months of dialysis, approximately $600 SGD/month, and every penny he uses on his dialysis is money he loses out to use for his surgery, which is the treatment he needs.
Despite the goodwill of his company, ‘S’ was ultimately still a low-wage labourer in a country with no minimum wage laws, facilitating the $18-$19/day average that migrant workers earn. After remitting money home, repaying agent fee debts, and paying for day-to-day necessities, this leaves very little, and sometimes nothing at all, for workers to save for long-term healthcare and other needs. Retirement is not a concept that the working-class can necessarily partake in, and many migrant workers struggle to access healthcare to tend to the injuries and illnesses (work-related and otherwise) that they develop over time.
‘S’ is lucky in the sense that his father can be a donor, because the average waiting time for cadaveric kidney transplants in Singapore is 9 years, and it is not common that there is a viable donor in the family itself. People on dialysis only have a 5-year survival rate of under 50%, while people who receive transplants have a survival rate of about 80% after 5 years. Seeing as ‘S’ has many decades left to live, this transplant is the best option for him and we would like to see him receive it.
Send your contribution to the coordinator Kai Lin using the QR code above.
If you do not use PayLah!, contact Kai Lin via @ohkailin to discuss other payment modes.
Please note that your PayLah! nickname will be reflected on the excel spreadsheet for accountability.
Contact Coordinator
Send your contribution to the coordinator Kai Lin using the QR code above.
If you do not use PayLah!, contact Kai Lin via @ohkailin to discuss other payment modes.
Please note that your PayLah! nickname will be reflected on the excel spreadsheet for accountability.