THE Dutch health minister, Ab Klink, is considering a recommendation to offer free health insurance for life to anyone who donates a kidney for transplant.

The initiative has been prompted by a chronic shortage of organ donors in the Netherlands. With an average waiting list of four years, one of the longest in Europe, about 200 Dutch people die each year while waiting for a new kidney.

A fake reality television show earlier this year, which convinced viewers that contestants were vying for the kidney of a 37-year-old woman dying of a brain tumour, was praised for highlighting the shortage.

The plan to reward donors with free insurance was drawn up by the Dutch Health Council, which advises the health ministry.

Although it is illegal for a donor to sell a kidney, the council argues that the insurance option would provide an incentive to donate. It claims the dearth of kidneys has already boosted an illicit trade in organs from living donors.

“At the moment everybody pays €1,000-€1,100 [£700-£800] a year for basic health insurance,” said Dr Alies Struijs, the author of a council report that recommends the scheme. “If you are 30 years old and you donate and then live another 40 years, you could save €40,000-€50,000.”

Klink confirmed that he was considering including the idea in a wider strategy to boost organ donation, to be published early next year.

A leak of the proposal last week sparked a debate in the Dutch press as to whether it represented the first step towards a trade in human organs. Critics warned that it may put pressure on poorer people to give up their organs.

The scheme was welcomed by transplant campaigners. Bernadette Haase, the director of the Dutch Transplant Foundation, said: “If it is properly run and well organised, it could be a solution.”

A survey commissioned by the Erasmus medical centre in Rotterdam suggested that the idea would enjoy significant support. It found that up to 15% of the public said they would probably be willing to donate a kidney if they received compensation.

Professor Willem Weimar, who helped to conduct the survey, said potential donors were asked whether they would prefer €50,000 or free health insurance. Up to 80% chose the insurance.

Others called for more radical ways of ending the donor shortage. Andries Hoitsma, a professor of surgery, called for a regulated free market in kidneys with prices of up to €50,000.

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