Desperate Australians turn towards illegal organ trade

An increasing number of Australians are turning to black markets to buy human organs, a News Limited investigation has found.

The report, published by News Limited on Sunday, revealed that more than 100 Australians have traveled overseas to purchase organs since 2001 as demand for transplants continued to outstrip supply.

Doctors who facilitate the illegal transplants are earning as much as 190,000 U.S. dollars per transaction.

In one case uncovered by the investigation a wealthy buyer paid 60, 000 U.S. dollars for a new liver.

An Australian mother of two, known only as Sarah, said she paid 91, 000 U.S. dollars for an organ transplant in China in 2011.

"I waited eight years and didn't know how long I had to keep waiting... If you can pay someone who is willing to donate kidney that money can help them do something in those countries it is not easy to earn money so why not," Sarah told News Limited.

"Personally, my kidney was from a criminal who has been executed. And that is not good, of course but if I didn't buy then another person would. We are not bad people but sometimes we have to do bad acts to live."

Dr Campbell Fraser, an international human organ trade expert from Griffith University, said that most of the trade occurs in southeast Asia.

Fraser said he was present in Chennai, in northeast India, when a doctor auctioned off the kidney of a dying patient to several foreigners with a winning bid of 38,000 U.S. dollars.

Many of the Australians who undergo transplants overseas end up in hospital in Australia due to complications, resulting in hospital bills which have exceeded 380,000 U.S. dollars in some cases. Endit