Panel to submit kidney racket report

The state-appointed inquiry committee designated to monitor organ transplants and also probe the Dr LH Hiranandani hospital kidney transplant racket, will submit its final report on Monday.

The Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DMER) had set up the three-member committee to probe loopholes and guidelines pertaining to live organ transplants. The panel was necessitated following an alleged kidney racket bust at the LH Hiranandani Hospital.

The team comprising Dr Gauri Rathod, assistant director at the Directorate of Health Services (DHS), Dr Sujata Patwardhan, zonal transplant co-ordination centre (ZTCC) secretary, and Dr Kalpana Mehta, urologist, scrutinised all the existing procedures at the hospital.

Meanwhile, the recipient in the case, Brijkishor Jaiswal, a businessman from Surat, was discharged from hospital on Saturday. The woman donor, Shobha Thakur, has been re-admitted in hospital on the orders of the committee.

“We have sent a letter to the police conveying our opinion in this matter. We will also submit our scrutinised report. We are now investigating the hospital, but it is yet to submit the papers we had demanded,” said Dr Rathod.

The DMER has also asked the committee members to investigate how a kidney transplant was approved by the hospital without proper authentication of all the documents required for the transplant.

The recipient, Jaiswal, and the donor, Thakur, had forged documents to show they were married and submitted 12 such counterfeit papers.

Jaiswal, who needed a kidney transplant desperately, had said, “I paid Rs 21 lakh for the transplant, Rs 8 lakh was given to Nilesh Kamble, who is transplant co-ordinator, and another '8 lakh was given to a person known as Sandip Bhisen, who is an agent. The remaining amount was paid to hospital nephrologist Dr Mukesh Shetye. The entire hospital board is involved in such scams.”

Thakur who also hails from Gujarat was lured with money to sell her kidney. According to sources, data from DHS showed that Hiranandani Hospital had so far conducted seven transplants in June. A DNA test would be conducted in suspicious cases, said a source.