Cash-for-kidney 'scam': Health Ministry starts probe into allegations against Indraprastha Apollo hospital

New Delhi: The Union government on Tuesday asked Delhi health authorities to probe a UK-based media report of an illegal kidney transplant racket functioning at the Apollo Hospital in Delhi involving a top surgeon, even as the hospital denied any wrongdoing.

The National Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organisation (NOTTO) wrote to the Delhi State Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organisation to examine the allegations, take appropriate action, and submit a report within a week.

The order from the apex organ transplantation authority comes a day after the UK-based newspaper The Telegraph published an investigative report on a cash-for-kidney scam thriving at one of India’s top private hospitals, in which poor people from Myanmar give their kidneys in exchange for money from rich patients.

The state authority was asked to investigate as per the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissue Act of 1994 that allows only family members to donate kidneys.

The report names Sandeep Guleria as the surgeon who carried out the transplants, but the doctor denied any knowledge of such illegal activities as identified by the newspaper, which also reported that no evidence was found to contradict Guleria.

The report alleged that impoverished people from Myanmar were being enticed to sell their organs for profit - forbidden by Indian and Myanmar laws – by creating an elaborate chain of forged documents and photographs so that the cases looked genuine.

In a statement, the Apollo Hospital’s parent company Indraprastha Medical Corporation Limited said, “The allegations made in the international media against IMCL are absolutely false, ill-informed and misleading.”

“The IMCL complies with every legal and ethical requirement for the transplant procedures, including all guidelines laid down by the government, as well as our own extensive internal processes that exceed compliance requirements,” it added.

The IMCL requires every donor to provide Form-21 notarised by the appropriate ministry in their country. This form is a certification from the foreign government that the donor and recipient are indeed related.

The government-appointed transplant authorisation committee at IMCL reviews documents for each case, including the certification, and interviews the donor and the recipient. It further revalidates the documents with the concerned embassy.

“The patients and donors undergo several medical tests, including genetic testing. These and many more steps far exceed any compliance requirements for a transplant procedure and ensure that the donor and recipient are indeed related as per applicable laws. IMCL remains committed to the highest standards of ethics,” it said.