Organ Trade
© ABCOrgan traffickers continue to exploit poor people around the world.
The World Health Organisation is warning of an alarming rise in the illegal trade in human organs, saying around ten percent of transplant procedures involve organs that have been bought on the black market.

The latest estimates show that organ traffickers are exploiting poor people in China, India and Pakistan to cash in on the rising international demand for replacement kidneys.

Professor Jeremy Chapman, past President of the Transplantation Society, says that much of the demand for organs comes from citizens of developed countries.

"People feel a great pressure here, and in other developed countries in the world, where almost all around the world the needs for transplantation are not completely met by our ability to find organ donors," Professor Chapman told the ABC.

"They go overseas where the only criterion for suitability is the size of your chequebook."

Professor Chapman says Australian patients have gone overseas despite warnings from their doctor and died after receiving illegal transplants.

While desperation for a medical solution drives those that receive the organs, money and material reward is a force for the organ donors.

"There are stories of brokers offering iPads for a kidney," Professor Chapman says.

"People don't care, it's as simple as that."

"It doesn't matter if the patient dies. It's an outrageous proposition but it's the truth."