Soon, senior police officials will be part of hospital's ethical committee to give final nod for live-related organ transplants. This move came after Powai police detained four people for allegedly running a kidney racket at Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital on Thursday.
Soon, senior police officials will be part of hospital's ethical committee to give final nod for live-related organ transplants. This move came after Powai police detained four people for allegedly running a kidney racket at Dr LH Hiranandani Hospital on Thursday.
During the ongoing investigation, the government committee found a long surgical scar on donor's body near one of the side of the kidney. The recipient will be taken to a government hospital for health check-up and ascertain if she has both her kidneys.
Five days ago after the kidney racket was busted, the state government appointed an expert committee to probe this matter in detail. Sources said that according to the mandate, committee had visited the hospital on Monday and while talking with the donor (female) they found a surgical scar on her body near the kidney area.
The kidney transplant was stopped by the police after receiving an information that the donor was impersonated as wife of the recipient and forged documents were prepared for the same. At that time, both donor and recipient were in the operation theater and the transplant was about to begin. The doctors decided to stop the procedure, but till then an incision was made on donor's body.
This hospital committee comprises hospital CEO or medical director, a social worker or retired government officer, a member from the health department, along with a legal expert. Once the committee is convinced, then only a transplant can take place.
"After this incident, we need to take some steps to curb forgery. Apart from planning some changes in rule, we also planning to introduced senior police official in the hospital ethics committee. For every transplant permission of police official, who is part of the committee, will be necessary for going ahead with the transplant," said Dr Pravin Shingare, director, directorate of medical education and research.
According to the plan, senior police official of the area in whose jurisdiction the hospital falls will be part of the committee. The government will also provide training to this officer on what kind of question they need to ask and to see the document necessary for the transplant.
Shingare added: "The expert committee is probing the matter in detail. They have already visited the hospital once and if required some more visits can be done. The investigation is going on and once the report is submitted, we will take necessary action against those guilty."
In India, kidney transplant is performed under the Human Organ Transplant Act (HOTA), 1994, which was amended in 2014. According to the law, if a donor and recipient are close relatives, they need to take permission from a hospital-level committee. If they are extended relatives, from outside the state or country, or if it is a case of swap transplant, such cases go to the state authorisation committee for permission.
The case so far
On Monday, the committee visited the hospital for investigation. The team is yet to go through the video recording and will be visiting the hospital again on Wednesday. While four people were arrested initially, the hospital's transplant coordinator Nilesh Kamble was also later arrested.
Police said that Kamble was working with the hospital for the last five years and there were several other kidney transplants done on the basis of fake documents. The hospital's transplant license was suspended by the state on July 16. In a statement issued by the hospital, it has constituted a committee of five doctors for an internal inquiry.
No kidding
1,50,000 people in India are waiting for a kidney transplant. However, only 3,000 of them manage to receive a transplant. 90% of people in the waiting list die without getting an organ.
Patients with diabetes and high blood pressure tend to spoil their kidneys. 3,100-end stage kidney disease patients are registered with the ZTCC to receive a kidney. The number of patients waiting is up to 10 times more than those who end up receiving one.
In India, more than 2 lakh new cases of end-stage kidney disease are present each year. Of these, about 70% manage to get access to dialysis, but almost two-thirds of these give up because of non-affordability and non-availability of treatment. So, one-and-a-half lakh patients just perish while the rest continue dialysis awaiting transplant. Chronic dialysis is virtually nonexistent in government-run hospitals and is unaffordable in the private sector (Rs15,000-20,000 per month).
India has close to 1,200 nephrologists practising across the country. There are 2,500 dialysis centres with a total of approximately 20,000 dialysis machines, predominantly in the private sector (90%) and mainly concentrated in cities, especially metros. There are around 65,000 patients undergoing hemodialysis at these centres.
Cost of kidney transplantation: Rs 4-6 lakh
A kidney recipient has to spend Rs12-15,000 on post-operative care for six months; life-long medication costs Rs10,000 every month
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