New Delhi|HL
The Delhi Police arrested 5 people on Friday after busted a kidney trade racket at Apollo Hospital in Delhi.
There were two hospital employees also involved in the racket. Police received a phone call on Thursday about the illegal organ trade in the hospital after which they started the investigation. However, hospital authorities claimed that the hospital is not involved in the racket and sought strict action against the accused.
It was claimed by the hospital that the arrested are not employees of the hospital.
According to Joint Commissioner of Police South Eastern Range RP Upadhyay, “The documents we have seized from the hospital are fake and investigation is in progress. Three middlemen, who are believed to have sold at least four kidneys in Delhi, have been arrested,” he said.
Three middlemen, Asim Sidar, Satya Prakesh and Devashish Malik used to lure people needing money to the hospital and convinced them to donate organ for Rs 3-4 lakh. Those who donated the organs hail from Kanpur and West Bengal. The two hospital staffers, Aditya and Sailesh, have also been arrested, the Joint CP added.
Then the donors were brought to Delhi and provided with accommodation in city hotels. Then they used to go medical tests to match their compatibility with recipients, following which transplantation was conducted in Apollo Hospital.
As per the Act, a detailed documentation and verification has to be done before organ transplantation, including the willingness of the donor, relationship of the donor with recipient, proof of address/identification, proof of marriage, marriage photograph, clearance of case by hospital’s internal authorisation committee.
The whole procedure has to be mandatorily videographed.
However, here in this case, all the above documents were fraudulently made. A new set of above documents were made by affixing the photo of a donor showing him/her as recipient’s relative in the forged ID card/photographs. The address/other details in the ID card remained the same as donor’s relative. So far, 5 cases have been detected.
“The documents and files we have been impounded from the hospital,” said the police officer. A case has been registered at the Sarita Vihar police station. The police are now probing the gang’s reach and suspecting more middlemen to be involved.
Meanwhile, Apollo Hospital authorities said that they are cooperating in the probe. “We are co-operating and providing all information required to help the police in investigation. The police have identified secretarial staff of some doctors. We reiterate that these are not employees of the hospital. While all due precautions were conducted, the use of fake and forged documents was used for this racket with a criminal intent. The hospital has been a victim of a well-orchestrated operation to cheat patients and the hospital. We urge the police to take the strictest of action against all those involved. This matter is of grave concern and our teams are extending all support to the Police.”
“The hospital, in order to ensure compliance with the law and due diligence, has an independent body with external members also for according consent to any transplant surgery. This committee goes through all documents necessary to ensure that requirements under the Act are complied with. Further, the hospital has ensured that all due process as per the law has been followed” the statement claimed,” it said.
