CANBERRA, Dec. 14 (Xinhua) -- Racism is likely a factor in the low rate of organ transplants for indigenous Australians, the chief of Australia's peak medical body has said.
Paul Lawton, a leading renal specialist, said on Wednesday night that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients were up to 10 times less likely to be added to the kidney donation waitlist than non-indigenous Australians.
Responding to Lawton's claim on Thursday, president of the Australian Medical Association (AMA) Michael Gannon said he was "shocked by those figures."
"The topic of racism in our health system is an uncomfortable one for doctors, nurses, but it has to be one of the possible reasons for this kind of disparity," Gannon told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).
"If there's reasons why Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are not being transplant-listed, they need to be investigated, but the problems need to be fixed."
Australia's Indigenous Health Minister Ken Wyatt said he would ask the Australian Organ and Tissue Donation and Transplantation Board, to investigate Lawton's claim.
"I'd describe it as extremely disappointing," Wyatt said.
"It's something I want to focus on for the next 12 months of starting to heighten the awareness we have to have more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people accessing organs."
Each Australian state and territory has a separate waiting list for organ transplants with patients required to undergo a "work-up" of health tests before they can make it onto the list.
The final decision on whether a patient makes it onto the list is made by a panel of specialists.
Data compiled by the Australia New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant Registry revealed that 13 percent of patients undergoing dialysis in Australia were indigenous but only 241 of 10,551 people with a functioning kidney transplant are indigenous.
