Australia plans to bring changes to the organ donation system

AUSTRALIA: NP NEWS 24 ONLINE – The Australian government is reportedly considering taking an “opt-out” approach to organ donation which would see citizens have to specifically state that they don’t want to be a donor.

Australians will be automatically registered as organ donors as part of a proposed change to combat the rise of people buying organs on the black market.

According to the Human Trafficking and Organ Transplant Tourism report has found the current national demand for donors far outstrips the available supply of organs.

The report also added that, in September 2018, there were 1423 people on organ transplant lists in Australia, with 1003 of those awaiting kidney transplants. Due to the high demand for organs, many don’t survive the waiting period. On the black market, kidneys can be purchased for anywhere between $68,000 and $163,000.

Desperate people, often facing end-stage disease and other grave conditions, may travel to distant countries and pay tens of thousands of dollars and more, for an organ transplant where the donor is poor, exploited or unable to give free and informed consent to donation.

Along with the changes, some authorities have also suggested that the law needs to be changed so Australians who go overseas to have an illegal organ transplant can be charged on their return.

Under Australia’s current organ donation program, only one in three people are registered as donors despite the majority of Australians claim that they are willing to donate their organs if they die.

Of the 10 top donating countries in the world, seven of them have had an opt-out system in place for a number of years, with two others adopting the policy in the past year.

However, even if organ donation rates are increased, the report’s authors believe organ supply won’t be able to meet the total demand anytime in the foreseeable future — meaning Australia needs measures to address organ trafficking sooner rather than later.