An Australian doctor’s proposal that the government should offer up to $47,000 for kidneys to overcome a chronic donor shortage, has raised controversy over organ donations with critics saying this will end in the poor selling their organs to the rich.

Kidney specialist Gavin Carney says allowing the sale of organs would save thousands and billions of dollars in care for patients on transplant waiting lists. This would further prevent people from using the black market in developing countries like Pakistan and India.

“Australians should be dissuaded from going to Third World countries to buy kidneys because such countries do not have the ethical, moral or compensatory infrastructure to make such a practice workable and appropriate. But we can do the opposite here. We've tried everything to drum up support for organ donation and the rates have not risen in 10 years. People just don't seem to be willing to give their organs away for free. Let's pay people some money for a new car or a house deposit and those waiting lists will be halved within about five years,” Dr. Carney was quoted as saying in Fairfax newspapers.

He goes even further by saying that this is the best solution he has found for the transplant crisis in Australia.

“I don't support (illegal trade). But I also do not agree with the fact that we should let people just rot on dialysis until they have been on dialysis so long they are untransplantable,” Carney said

According to statistics, more than 1,800 people are waiting for kidney transplants in the country but only 343 kidneys were donated last year. Transplant Australia, a national charity organ support group, said the average wait for a kidney transplant is four years. Selling or buying organs is illegal in Australia, carrying a penalty of six months' jail and/or a fine of $4400

His idea rose criticism among organ transplant groups. To legalize such a practice that is outlawed in most of the world, would lead to abuse, and would leave the poor vulnerable to exploitation, they said.

"It really focuses on the poor and people who are least able to pay for things in society. They get attracted to these types of things," Transplant Australia chief executive Chris Thomas said.

Carney’s proposal was also criticized by Kidney Health Australia, which said it would lead to “many ethical issues and abuse.”

“In my opinion it is inappropriate for the Australian medical system to consider, and is counter to the Australian culture which promises an equitable approach in all things. The commercial trade in organs is not something we can support,” KHA medical director Tim Mathew told The Associated Press.