David Koch resigned from the Organ and Tissue Authority's advisory council on live television. Credit:Seven Network Koch, who was until Wednesday the chairman of the Organ and Tissue Authority's advisory council, was responding in part to reports on two of his own network's programs, Seven News and Today Tonight, which ran segments on Tuesday night that Koch said were highly critical of the reform of Australia's organ and tissue donation system. Koch told viewers that the segments had presented figures that were selective, which had "really, really annoyed" him. One statistic presented was that Australia ranked 19th in world organ donation rates, behind countries such as Croatia, Latvia and Estonia. However, Koch said that overlooked the fact that Australia's donation rank had risen from 32nd to 19th since the Organ and Tissue Authority was launched in 2009.

Rural Health Minister Fiona Nash welcomed the tribunal's decision. Credit:Andrew Meares That jump in the ranks was the equivalent of those experienced by world leaders such as Spain and the United Kingdom in their first six years of reforms, he said. Further, the segments claimed that the organ donation system had cost $250 million, which one professor claimed was money that was not well spent. However Koch said the $250 million figure was spread over six years, and was offset by the vast savings transplants made for the country's hospital systems. The extra kidney transplants alone had saved hospitals $25 million a year, he said. Koch then directed his anger at Sharelife, a donation advocacy group which he said "basically want to take control of the reforms and take control of the money".

"How do I know? I should know, because I used to be part of Sharelife until I left because I was actually sick of them criticising, rather than doing anything," Koch said. The ABC reported on Wednesday that Senator Nash had ordered the review of Australia's organ donation system because the $250 million in recent investments has not led to the intended rise in transplant numbers. Koch said he had invited Senator Nash to appear on Sunrise to discuss the system, but she had declined. "The most disappointing thing for me is that the politician in charge of donations, her, Fiona Nash, has not supported the Authority's program and caved in to this rich lobby group and started yet another expensive inquiry into it. It's an absolute disgrace," he said. Sharelife director Brian Myerson, whom Koch mentioned by name in Wednesday morning's segment, said he was prepared to debate the Sunrise presenter publicly over Australia's organ donation system.

Asked for his response to being called a "rich lobbyist", Mr Myerson said he would be disappointed if Koch knew about his financial position. "I just think it's very sad that he has chosen to attack the people rather than sticking to the facts," said Mr Myerson, who had a combined kidney and pancreas transplant almost 16 years ago. "I've watched many, many people die while waiting for organs and, as a result, I believe we need to improve our organ donation rate in line with the leading countries in the world," he said. "That's simply what Sharelife stands for: that Australians deserve the same access to transplants as those in Spain and Croatia and Belgium and Portugal, and I can list a whole lot of countries, and there's no reason that Australians shouldn't have that access." He said he "absolutely" welcomed the review announced by Senator Nash.

"We really need to know what is going on," he said. "We're achieving 16.1 donors per million, and going down. The leading countries do 35, and Spain did 36 last year. What's the reason we are so far behind the leading countries?" Senator Nash responded: "I note the resignation of David Koch from his position as advisory board chairman of the Organ and Tissue Authority following the announcement of an independent review aimed at improving organ donation rates in Australia. "The review has been welcomed in a media statement from the Organ and Tissue Authority. The Organ and Tissue Authority was informed of the review more than a week ago and had input into the terms of reference. "Mr Koch's unexpected resignation is a loss to the organisation. The review is seeking to establish if there is anything else we can do to improve organ donation rates in Australia and save lives.

"It is always unfortunate to lose people of Mr Koch's calibre from such a good cause. I acknowledge the great contribution Mr Koch has made to support increased rates of organ donation in Australia and would welcome his input into the review." . Follow us on Twitter Like us on Facebook