Kidney racket: 2 doctors apply for pre-arrest bail

Two doctors from Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital, named by the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) in the kidney donation racket, have filed for anticipatory bail on Thursday. The application was filed two days after the Powai police arrested the CEO, medical director and three other doctors of the hospital for their involvement.

The two doctors have been identified as Dr Suwin Shetty, a pathologist, and Dr Veena Sewlikar, a general surgeon. Both the doctors filed for anticipatory bail plea before the Dindoshi sessions court and will be up for hearing on Friday.

The legal counsel for the doctors said that the prime contention of the bail is that the doctors were not supposed to be part of the screening check of the donor and the receiver, which is mandatory under the Transplant of Human Organs Act. The bail plea contends that the background checks were not the responsibility of the doctors and their role commenced only once the patient was scheduled for operation.

They added that the doctors had not committed any negligence because under the Transplant of Human Organs Act (TOHA) they were not required to interview the party and this was the duty of the ethics committee of the hospital.

The report prepared by a three-member committee comprising Dr Sujata Patwardhan, zonal transplant co-ordination centre (ZTCC) secretary; Dr Gauri Rathod, assistant director at the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) and Dr Kalpana Mehta, urologist, had submitted its findings to the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) on July 23 and subsequently, this was given to the Mumbai police. Based on the findings of this report, the police on Tuesday arrested the doctors, including the CEO of the hospital Dr Sujit Chatterjee and the medical director Dr Anurag Naik.

The doctors were booked for not following procedures laid down under the TOHA and missing out on details such as conducting video interviews of the donor and the receiver, and thoroughly verifying the documents submitted by them.

The DHS report also mentions that Dr Shetty and Dr Sewlikar had not followed the verification procedures laid down under the said Act.