The SIT (Special Investigation Team), formed by the city police to investigate the alleged kidney racket by Sraddha Hospital, has unearthed another case of gross violation here on Monday. Cases have been booked by the police under the relevant sections of the AP Transplantation of Human Organ Act.
As per the police, the doctors in question at the hospital had performed a kidney transplant on one patient by name Sivakumar from Bengaluru, in 2016.
The donor in this case was a woman from Vambay Colony in Visakhapatnam and documents of the patient and the donor, including Aadhaar card were forged to show them as husband and wife.
As per the police, this a case similar to that of T. Pardhasaradhi, which exposed the alleged kidney racket by the hospital in May, this year.
It may be remembered that based on a complaint filed by Mr. Pardhasaradhi, a donor, the police and the three-member committee formed by the then District Collector, had begun the investigation.
Mr. Pardhasaradhi had complained that Sraddha Hospital doctors, who are in touch with middlemen, had lured him to donate his kidney and did not pay the promised money. Investigation in the case had revealed that Mr. Pardhasaradhi’s documents were forged to showcase him as a relative of the patient.
The three-member committee comprising District Medical and Health Officer S. Tirupathi Rao, District Coordinator for Hospital Services (DCHS) Nayak and KGH Superintendent L. Arjuna, investigated the case and came out with a report stating that Sraddha Hospital had so far performed about 68 kidney transplants and of which 29 were done by violating the rules and regulations.
Police Commissioner Mahesh Chandra Laddha had formed SIT to investigate the alleged violations, and this case, which was similar to that of Mr. Pardhasaradhi was unearthed.
“In at least 20 to 25 cases, the rules have been completely violated. There are different types of violations, which have come to light so far. In some cases, the rules were not followed, such as performing the surgeries without informing or taking into consideration the opinion of the ethics or authorisation committee, which is mandatory as per the Transplantation of Human Organ Act, or documents being forged to showcase the donor as relative of the patient or the promised sum being not paid to the donors. We are investigating all possible angles,” said Mr. Laddha.
‘Loose ends’
He also said that there are some loose ends when it comes to the functioning of the ethical committee, which is supposed to check the documents and health of the donor and certify that he or she is a relative of the patient and fit to donate. We are investigating the committee’s functioning also, he said. A couple of weeks ago, the hospital has been closed and sealed by the order of the District Collector and its MD Pradeep Kumar, has been arrested.
The police had earlier arrested Dr. M. Manjunath, a Ayurvedic doctor from Bengaluru, who acted as the middleman, Dr. D Prabhakar, nephrologist of Sraddha Hospital and J. Kumar Varma, Manager (Admin) of the hospital, on May 9.