China last resort for the dying
Bianca Hall | Sydney Morning Herald

WITH a click of a mouse and as little as $15,000, gravely ill Australians can buy a kidney from dead people in developing countries.

The practice, known as ''transplant tourism'', has attracted more interest as desperate people struggle to find alternatives to the national donor registry. The average wait is four years, which many of them do not have.

Kidney Health Australia reports some patients travelling to China and the Philippines to buy kidneys from dead donors. Some academics, including Jeremy Shearmur from the Australian National University, believe the government should encourage the practice of buying organs from ''healthy, voluntary live donors from poorer countries''. Dr Shearmur said Australia is lacking in suitable organs, particularly kidneys, which need to be harvested immediately after death.

Kidney Health Australia chief executive Anne Wilson condemned the international trade in body parts but said people in desperate situations should not be judged too harshly.

''If you had the financial capacity to save your life or the life of your child I challenge you to say you would not try to do that,'' she said.

Gus McIvor, 58, nearly got as far as the operating theatre in a Chinese hospital before a local match was found at the last minute. He was diagnosed seven years ago with renal failure and, facing the prospect of a long wait, he investigated an overseas transplant.

Mr McIvor, who is on the board of Kidney Health Australia and ShareLife Australia, travelled to a hospital in China. After paying the deposit, his niece tested postive as a donor match and flew from Holland for the life-saving surgery.

Despite his brush with overseas transplants Mr McIvor believes a government-supported scheme for overseas donations would fail to address the chronic shortage of donors here: ''I shouldn't have had to go on a plane to go and have a look. It shouldn't have to happen.''

Transplant Australia CEO Chris Thomas said transplant tourism preyed on some of the world's poorest and most vulnerable people.

''There are also health risks for people who venture into transplant tourism. They can pick up a diseased kidney that contains cancer cells. That's why we need to support Australia's system of organ and tissue donation because we've got the best transplant services in the world. We just need more Australians to believe in it.''

A spokeswoman for the Australian Organ and Tissue Authority said the government had no intention of re-examining its opposition to commercialised organ transplantation.

NOTE:  IN THE UNITED STATES IT IS ILLEGAL TO PURCHASE OR TO SELL ORGANS.