More step forward to donate bone marrow in Singapore

SINGAPORE – More people here are donating their bone marrow, with the Bone Marrow Donor Programme (BMDP) facilitating 71 such donations here so far in 2026.

This is more than the 57 recorded for the whole of 2025.

This was announced by BMDP chief executive Charles Loh on Oct 31 at Match for Life 2026, a walkathon organised by the programme at Bidadari Park.

The increase reflects growing transplant needs, greater use of local donors and BMDP’s efforts to make transplants more accessible to patients, the programme said.

BMDP is a non-profit organisation that builds and manages Singapore’s only register of volunteer marrow donors.

Once a match is found, these donors can be asked to donate to patients with leukaemia or other blood diseases.

While BMDP now has more than 130,000 registered donors on its registry, donor dropout is still the programme’s greatest challenge, said Loh.

Minister for Energy, Trade and Industry (Energy and Industry) Tan See Leng, who is BMDP’s patron, noted that while the programme receives about 500 search requests annually from hospitals for matching marrow donors, only about 20% eventually lead to a transplant.

“There are many reasons why a transplant may not proceed – a patient’s condition may change, a donor may not be able to proceed, or a suitable match may not be found,” Tan said at the event on Oct 31.

“We must therefore continue to grow and diversify our donor registry, to improve the chances of finding a suitable match for patients who need one,” he added.

As at end-September, 247 potential donors had agreed to proceed when contacted, moving patients a step closer to a life-saving transplant.

The number of organisations under BMDP’s corporate partner programme has also grown from 26 when it was launched in 2025 to 48 in 2026.

Under the programme, organisations support employees who wish to donate their bone marrow, such as by offering them time off or volunteer leave to do so.

About 800 people took part in the walkathon, including 262 registered marrow donors, 12 of whom have already donated marrow or stem cells to patients in need.

Among those taking part was psychiatrist Daniel Kwek, 60, who in October 2018 discovered a red patch on his knee.

He initially thought it was cellulitis, a common bacterial skin infection.

It was actually a sign of acute myeloid leukaemia – a rare, aggressive blood cancer that develops in the bone marrow, whose symptoms can include bruising or spots on the skin.

Married with a son, he said: “One of the first things I did when I was diagnosed was to call a lawyer friend to help me draft a will, because you never know what might happen.”

Kwek added that he was unprepared for how difficult the process of chemotherapy would be.

He said: “After a few months, when the treatment got a bit tougher, I broke down.”

His oncologist suggested getting a bone marrow transplant, which would be more effective in treating leukaemia, and he agreed.

After signing up for the BMDP, a match was found and he went through a successful transplant in January 2019.

After having to take oral chemo meds for several months and monthly follow-ups for six years, he now has to go for check-ups only every four to six months.

Kwek said that while he had previously avoided BMDP volunteers canvassing for donors, he now volunteers, sharing his own story to encourage more to step forward.

The greatest gift of getting a transplant was seeing his son get married in 2023, Kwek said.

“It was like getting another lease on life,” he said.