HOW do you convince people to donate organs when they prefer to be buried whole when they die? 

That is one of the major issues facing health professionals trying to solve high rates of kidney disease in the Far North’s indigenous communities.

Some patients have been left waiting up to five years for a kidney due to a lack of indigenous donors.

Matching donor organs to potential recipients requires genetic similarity, with transplants having a greater chance of success if organs are donated from people with the same ethnicity.

However, Cairns Base Hospital transplant specialist Bronwyn Hayes said many indigenous people were reluctant to donate organs.

"It’s very rare for indigenous people to donate organs," Ms Hayes said.

"There is cultural belief, especially for the Torres Strait Islanders.

"They like to be buried whole.

"For the general indigenous population sometimes signing to be an organ donor is like cursing yourself to die."

Ms Hayes spoke about the issue at the Renal Society of Australasia’s annual Conference in Cairns yesterday.

Queensland Health is hoping to remedy the situation by promoting organ donation to more indigenous people.

Australia had 247 organ donors in 2009 and 47 of those were Queenslanders, alongside, 325 Queensland tissue donors.

But about 1700 Australians still remain on the recipient waiting list.

By finding more indigenous donors, this would ultimately lead to a reduction in the general waiting list for organs.

"Because it’s so hard to match with the general donor pool, this means indigenous patients end up waiting a very long time to get a kidney," Ms Hayes said.

"The average wait time is about five years and they’re on dialysis for five years.

"If there were more donors who were indigenous, it would bring this time back a bit."

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