The Delhi Police has blew the lid off of a kidney trade racket at the prestigious Indraprastha Apollo Hospital, arresting two of its secretarial staff and three touts. Five persons including two employees of the multispeciality hospital in south east Delhi and three touts have been arrested on charges of running a kidney racket bringing donors from different parts of the country to the national capital.
Aditya Singh, 24, and Shailesh Saxena, 31, are aides to a senior nephrologist, police said. Aseem Sikdar, Satya Prakash and Devashish Moulik, all in their 30s, lured needy people with money in exchange for their kidneys. A donor was paid Rs 5 lakh while the accused charged the recipient Rs 25-30 lakh.
“The touts would get donors from West Bengal, Kanpur, Delhi and Chennai and put them up in hotels here. They got each donor tested to check if he was a match for the recipient. After that, they forged documents to establish the donor was a relative of the recipient,” said DCP (southeast) MS Randhawa.
“We formed two teams and conducted a raid, arresting the three gang members on the spot. A case under the human organ Act has been registered against them,” he said.
“Detailed documentation and verification must be done before each transplant. Willingness of the donor, relationship with the recipient, proof of address and marriage, clearance by the hospital’s internal authorisation committee is required. The whole procedure must be videographed,” said Randhawa.
“But in this case, hospital authorities failed to verify these documents, which were fraudulently made. The men affixed photographs of donors in the forms but filled in the details of the recipients’ relatives.”
Apollo hospitals said, “The hospital has an independent body with external members also for according consent for any transplant surgery. This committee goes through all documents necessary to ensure requirements under the Act are complied with.”
“While all precautions were taken, it appears fake and forged documents were used for this racket with criminal intent. The hospital has been a victim of a well-orchestrated operation to cheat patients,” Apollo hospitals said in a statement.
By Premji
