OZschwitz: Sell your kidney for $50,000, says specialist

A SPECIALIST doctor says young, healthy people should be allowed to sell their kidneys for $50,000 to the Federal Government, which could then give them to sick patients who now must wait years for a transplant or travel to Third World countries to buy the organs.

Selling or buying organs is illegal in Australia, carrying a penalty of six months' jail and/or a fine of $4400. However, the senior Canberra nephrologist Gavin Carney says changing the law would save thousands of lives and billions of dollars in care for sick patients left languishing on waiting lists for up to 10 years.

More than 1800 people are waiting for a kidney transplant in Australia but only 343 kidneys were donated last year, forcing some to travel to countries such as Pakistan and India to buy organs for up to $30,000 on the blackmarket.

The practice is illegal in every country and considered unethical by transplant experts across the globe.

"Being forced to travel overseas and illegally buy an organ from someone who desperately needs the money, with no medical controls over the process and nobody checking whether the kidney is a good match, is what I call unethical," Dr Carney said.

"But what is the option? Spending eight hours a day on dialysis for up to seven years? Dying on a wait list?"

Australia has one of the lowest organ donor rates in the world - 9.4 donors per million people, and as few as 8 per million in NSW - despite repeated media campaigns and transplant consent now linked to drivers' licences.

"We've tried everything to drum up support for organ donation and the rates have not risen in 10 years," Dr Carney said. "People just don't seem willing to give their organs away for free."
LNK

OZschwitz: Sell your kidney for $50,000, says specialist

OZschwitz: Sell your kidney for $50,000, says specialist

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