He was lying in a hospital bed recuperating from a heart bypass operation when more bad news hit.

Mr Mohamed Jusmi Abdul Hamid was told that given his heart condition, he was no longer in line for a replacement kidney.

By that time, in August 2004, the 52-year old had chalked up a 15-year wait for a kidney transplant, much longer than the average nine-year wait for other kidney patients,

Dispirited and tired, he snapped at the transplant coordinator. 'I told him 'So what? Even when I could have a transplant, I never got it. So there's not much difference now, right?'

'I stopped hoping a long time ago so the news wasn't disappointing,' he recalled bitterly.

He was just 34 years old when his blood pressure shot up and could not be brought down for days. That was when doctors told him his kidneys were failing.

Because of his thrice-weekly dialysis, he had to quit his job as a clerk in a brokerage firm to drive a cab. 'During the first 10 years, I visited the transplant unit at Singapore General Hospital almost every day to ask if there was a kidney for me. But each time, the answer was 'No'.'

In 2004, 77 people in the kidney transplant queue were taken off, another 76 in 2005, and 120 last year.

As of last year, the kidney queue stands at 555 people, including 118 Muslims.

There was a complication for Muslims who are not covered by the Human Organ Transplant Act.

Rather than opt out, they had to opt in to be donors, and not many did so. So when a transplant was needed, they were placed at the back of the queue as priority went to donors.

Mr Jusmi, his wife and two of his children pledged themselves as donors once his kidneys started failing. But it still meant a two-year wait before he was even put in the line. 'I wished I had pledged my organs earlier but it was 1989 and I didn't know a thing about organ donation.'

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