Health dept suspends Ruby Hall Clinic’s licence to perform organ transplants for 6 months

Ruby Hall Clinic authorities said they will seek legal redressal over the matter.

Health authorities had earlier issued a show-cause notice to the hospital over alleged malpractice in a recent kidney transplant and asked it to explain why its licence should not be suspended.

The notice was sent after a woman was allegedly fraudulently presented as the organ receiver’s wife and promised a large sum of money in return. The “wife” was the donor for the kidney transplant surgery.

Police had referred the case to the state Health Department, which is the appropriate authority under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act.

In response to the show-cause notice issued by the state Health Department, Ruby Hall Clinic on April 8 had said that the kidney transplant was permitted by the regional authorisation committee of Sassoon General Hospital, Pune. The permission was based on the documents submitted to them, proving the “relationship of the recipient and the donor.

The recipient was suffering from kidney disease and was advised a transplant, He had accordingly submitted copies of relevant documents to Ruby Hall Clinic for the transplant, proving his relationship with the donor “wife”.

“The identification proof documents were issued by government authorities and the hospital authorities had no reason to disbelieve that,” Dr Rebecca John, deputy director of Medical Services, Ruby Hall Clinic, had said in her response to the show-cause notice.

“We have relied on the permission granted by the regional authorisation committee, which is the statutory authority for approval of live organ transplant in Pune Division,” said Bomi Bhote, CEO of Ruby Hall Clinic.

“The suspension of the licence is an extremely unfair move. No inquiry has been conducted and in fact, we had a filed a complaint with the police. We will seek legal redressal on this issue,” said Bhote.

Authorities at Ruby Hall Clinic said they had followed all rules and protocols under the Human Organs Transplantation Act (HOTA), so there was no reason for issuing a show-cause notice or suspending the registration/licence under Section 16 of HOTA act.

Ruby Hall Clinic authorities said they were unaware of any monetary transaction between the recipient and the donor, who later submitted documents stating that she was not his wife.