Kidney Transplant Racket: Telangana CID arrests Anaesthesiologist

Hyderabad: Nearly six months after an illegal kidney transplant racket was exposed at Alkananda Multi-Speciality Hospital in Rangareddy, the Telangana Crime Investigation Department (CID) has arrested a 36-year-old anaesthesiologist from Visakhapatnam in connection with the case. With this, the total number of arrests in the case has reached 20.

The doctor, identified as Dr Ruttala Venkata Rama Santosh Naidu, was picked up by a CID team from Eluru in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday. He was presented before a local court in LB Nagar on Friday and sent to judicial custody.

According to CID officials, Dr Naidu’s role was crucial in the illegal transplants. He allegedly gave anaesthesia to both kidney donors and recipients during secret surgeries and was paid around Rs 2.5 lakh for each procedure.

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

It has been revealed that he worked closely with other doctors already arrested in the case, including Dr Rajashekar, Dr Avinash, and the main accused, P Pavan Kumar, who is believed to have organised the transplants, reports TOI.

Medical Dialogues in January reported that the Telangana State Medical Council (TSMC) issued notices to Alakananda Hospital, Saroornagar, after an illegal kidney transplantation racket was uncovered during a raid conducted by the Health Department. 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 Rs 4 lakh each for their kidneys, were from Tamil Nadu, while recipients, who paid Rs 50 lakh for the transplants, hailed from Karnataka. The surgeries were allegedly performed on January 16 by doctors brought in from other states. The role of two doctors in the racket were found who were brought in from other states to assist with the surgeries on recipients. Among them, one claimed to hold a medical degree from China, while the other claimed to have graduated from Ukraine.

After this, the government handed over the case to the Crime Investigation Department (CID), which exposed illegal kidney transplants even at Janani and Aruna hospitals in Saidabad in April. The surgeries were disguised as lawful organ donations.

CID Additional DGP Charu Sinha said that they are now focusing on locating absconding suspects and following money trails to understand how the racket operated across hospitals and states.

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