Two linked to kidney racket held

The Powai police has arrested two persons in connection with the kidney transplant racket; one of them an employee of the LH Hiranandani Hospital. Nilesh Kamble, is the transplant coordinator for the hospital and effectively, the first hospital employee to be arrested in the case. Kamble manages paperwork for transplants in the hospital.

Acting on a complaint by a social worker, the Powai police, on Thursday visited LH Hiranandani Hospital and inquired about a kidney transplant operation to be performed the same day. Upon investigating, the police found that patient Brijkishore Jaiswal (48) was set to receive a kidney from a woman who had submitted forged documents to show that she was his wife. The police then arrested Jaiswal, his son Kishan, and two middlemen identified as Vaijendra Bisen and Bharat Sharma.

During initial investigation, the Powai police found that the Aadhaar card, ration card and other documents submitted by the woman who identified herself as Rekha, were fake. “Even Jaiswal’s age in two of his documents did not match. This was very obvious and we are probing how hospital authorities missed checking this,” said a senior official from the Powai police station.

Initial investigation also revealed that Bisen had been arrested in 2007 by Unit III of Mumbai police crime branch in connection with another organ transplant racket. Joint commissioner of police (law and order) Deven Bharti, who was additional commissioner of police (crime) at the time, added that Bisen had been connected with a kidney transplant racket spanning various cities, including Mumbai and Chennai.

After investigating the hospital’s role in the racket, the Powai police on Saturday arrested Kamble. “Kamble was responsible for verifying the paperwork submitted by the patient and the donor. His job was to collect documents and also check for any discrepancies in them,” said a police officer.

Mr Kamble was arrested under guidance of a state government committee that oversees investigation of cases registered under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994.

The same day, Powai police arrested a second person identified as Khwaja from Mumbra in connection with the case. He is not an employee of LH Hiranandani Hospital and his role in the racket is not still clear.

Meanwhile, the hospital issued a statement that read: “We have been made aware that one of the medical social workers at the hospital is a suspect and has been arrested in the case involving falsification of information for kidney transplant. We take issues of ethics and compliance seriously and have terminated the services of the concerned person. We are fully cooperating with the investigation agencies in this matter. The hospital has constituted an internal committee of five doctors and we are also looking at engaging external consultants to further strengthen the screening and authorisation process for transplants. We adhere to all procedures mandated by law and will further strengthen it, basis the advice of the committee. As a healthcare institution of repute, we take matters of ethics and compliance seriously and are working towards building more safeguards to detect and avoid fraudulent cases.”