Kidney Racket Allegations: Tamil Nadu suspends Licences of 2 private hospitals

A suspected kidney transplant racket has come to light in Namakkal, where a broker allegedly targeted poor textile workers, lured them into selling their kidneys for money at two private hospitals - Dhanalakshmi Srinivasan Medical College Hospital in Perambalur and Cethar Hospitals in Trichy.

The donors were secretly taken to private hospitals, admitted as patients, and kept for a week to undergo the transplant in exchange for amounts ranging from Rs 5 to 10 lakh. After the procedure, they were handed over the money, which helped them to repay their debts. The brokers specifically targeted vulnerable and poor individuals who were in urgent need of money.

Adding to the concern, the authorities are also questioning the quality of the donated kidneys. Investigators suspect that the middlemen supplied poor donors to recipients under the guise of false familial relationships. However, the involvement of the hospitals and transplant surgeons in the racket remains unclear, and an investigation is currently underway.