Hyderabad Kidney Transplant Racket: 2 Doctors with degrees from China, Ukraine under investigation

Hyderabad: Following the recent discovery of an illegal kidney transplant racket at Alkananda Multi-Speciality Hospital in Rangareddy, the alleged role of two doctors in the racket who were brought in from other states to assist with the surgeries on recipients is now under police investigation.

The police authorities have launched an investigation and are in the process of verifying the medical credentials of two doctors, one of whom claims to hold a medical degree from China, while the other claims to have graduated from Ukraine.  

It is mandatory to clear the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination conducted by the National Board of Examinations to practice as a doctor in India. The police are sceptical about the authenticity of their medical degrees and have raised doubts about their claims of clearing the required examination. Therefore, they are verifying whether the doctors possess valid medical degrees and have met all the necessary qualifications to practice in the country.

In the latest development, the Telangana government has decided to entrust the case to the Crime Investigation Department (CID). Health Minister Damodar Raja Narasimha on Friday issued orders handing over the case to the CID.

Also read- Kidney Transplant Racket: TSMC issues notice to private hospital

Medical Dialogues recently reported that the Telangana State Medical Council (TSMC) has issued notices to Alakananda Hospital, Saroornagar after an illegal kidney transplantation racket came to light during a raid conducted by the Health Department. The Council is also working with the Telangana Health Department, which has constituted a four-member committee to investigate the racket.

The hospital’s managing director, along with other staff members, were arrested for allegedly luring kidney donors from other states and bringing in external doctors to carry out the transplants. Kidneys donated by two women from Tamil Nadu were transplanted in two patients from Karnataka. Police shifted the kidney donors and two patients to the government-run Gandhi Hospital in Secunderabad by ambulance.

Preliminary investigations revealed that donors, reportedly paid ₹4 lakh each for their kidneys, were from Tamil Nadu, while recipients, who paid ₹50 lakh for the transplants, hailed from Karnataka. According to a senior health official, the surgeries were allegedly performed on January 16 by doctors brought in from other states

The Saroornagar police of Rachakonda Commissionerate have discovered that a doctor in his mid-30s, who obtained his medical degree from Ukraine, has been running a nine-bed hospital that was licensed several years ago. However, the facility is now under investigation due to allegations that it may have been leased to other individuals. Investigators are looking into whether the doctor used this leasing arrangement to distance himself from being criminally charged with the incident. 

A top police official overseeing the investigation of the case told The Hindu, “This claim could be a plot to evade the charges of illegal kidney transplantation surgeries carried out at the hospital."

Meanwhile, a doctor with a medical degree from China is suspected of assisting the primary doctors who had performed the surgeries. To determine and verify their level of involvement in the racket, the police will review the video footage of surveillance cameras inside and outside the hospital. 

The identities of the urologists who performed the surgeries, the amount of money exchanged, and the network of mediators coordinating between the doctors, donors, and recipients have yet to be confirmed.

Meanwhile, six special police teams have been sent to different places in the neighbouring States of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and within Telangana, looking out for the mediators and masterminds of the kidney racket.

Also read- Private Hospital sealed for illegal kidney transplantation