​In January this year, Ms Lai Yoke Ling's life changed when she became the 1,000th patient at Singapore General Hospital (SGH) to undergo a kidney transplant from a deceased donor, nearly 50 years after the hospital performed the nation's first such procedure back in 1970.

​Just three months after his first heart attack in November 2014, Mr Mohamed Rezal Yusof suffered a second one – this time more severe and eventually putting him on the waiting list for a transplant. While the first heart attack was managed with blood thinning medication as doctors did not detect any blockage in the arteries, the second one severely damaged his heart muscle.