The Federal Government says Australian transplant surgeons should focus on increasing the number of organ donors in Australia rather than worrying about Australians seeking organs from executed prisoners in China.
Australian transplant surgeons say, however, that they are concerned about China's transplant industry because its unethical transplant practices may affect the willingness of Australians to participate in organ donations.
Spokesperson for the Federal Health Minister Ms Kate Miranda told The Epoch Times that doctors should not be focussing on China but instead "promoting organ donations in Australia".
"We can't stop people going to China," Ms Miranda said: "It is up to the doctors. They should be increasing organ donation rates in Australia so people do not have to go overseas."
However, Dr Tim Furlong a Sydney nephrologist says Chinese transplantation professionals, who use organs from prisoners on death row to service their burgeoning transplant industry, are giving organ donation programmes a bad name and he believes that it will contribute to a decline in organ donor numbers.
"I believe that unethical practices in other countries have the potential to undermine the hard won reputations of our own transplant services," Dr Furlong said. "I believe that forced donation in other countries could lead to resistance to donation in our own country."
Dr Furlong said he had personally looked after two Australians who had been to China for transplants and said he was "alarmed by reports of kidney transplants being performed in China (and elsewhere) using executed prisoners as donors."
"I believe this is an abhorrent practice," he said.
A survey conducted by renal specialists of four major NSW hospitals identified 16 patients who had travelled overseas for commercial kidney transplants. Seven of these patients had been to China.
Results of the survey were published in the Medical Journal of Australia at the end of last year, under the title Outcome of overseas commercial kidney transplantation: an Australian perspective.
The paper stated that, while documentation for the seven who had been to China was in Chinese, "Donor details were generally not available, although it was known that at least two kidneys were from executed prisoners."
Doctors involved in the research concluded that "Ethical reasons, in particular concerning the rights and well-being of donors, are enough to prevent us from recommending overseas commercial transplantation (in its current form)."
It is common knowledge that executed prisoners are used in China to service the transplant industry. It is also advertised widely on Chinese organ transplant websites.
What is not known is who these donors are, what procedures are involved in obtaining their organs and why there are such large discrepancies between the number of official execution figures (according to Amnesty International, 1770 last year) and the number of organ transplants, (around 20,000 last year according to Fairfax correspondent, Mary Anne Toy, who is based in Beijing).
Practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual practice that is persecuted in China, say the figures are concerning because many thousands of Falun Gong practitioners who have been picked up by special police have not been heard from since.
Dr Furlong said one of the major concerns Australian transplant surgeons have with their Chinese counterparts is the lack of transplant data and the secrecy surrounding Chinese donor procedures.
"They need to be transparent so that they are up front about what they are doing there" he said
Dr Furlong said he would like to see the International Transplantation Society be more active in pressuring the Chinese authorities and their transplant professionals to be more open.
"I believe transplant teams in China (and elsewhere) should conform to the highest ethical standards and should be completely open about their methods.
"These teams should only be admitted to international associations when they have satisfied these criteria," Dr Furlong said.
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