India to probe alleged 'cash-for-kidney' scam

By Ahmad Adil

NEW DELHI (AA) - Indian authorities have ordered a probe after reports emerged that a hospital in the Indian capital New Delhi was allegedly "embroiled" in trade of kidneys, an official told Anadolu.

The National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organization, which falls under the Indian Health Ministry, has asked the Delhi government to probe the alleged cash-for-kidney racket.

“We have told the government (in Delhi) to examine the matter and take appropriate steps,” an official from the National Organ and Tissue Transplantation Organization told Anadolu on Wednesday.

The probe has come after a report in London-based daily The Telegraph alleged that “one of the world’s biggest private hospital groups is 'embroiled in a cash for kidneys’ racket in which impoverished people from Myanmar are being enticed to sell their organs for profit.”

“The scam involves the elaborate forging of identity documents and staging of ‘family’ photographs to present donors as the relatives of would-be patients. Under Indian and Burmese laws, a patient cannot receive an organ donation from a stranger in normal circumstances,” the report said.

It said the investigation revealed “desperate young villagers from Myanmar are being flown to Apollo’s prestigious Delhi hospital and paid to donate their kidneys to rich Burmese patients.”

Indraprastha Medical Corporation Limited (IMCL), which manages the hospital, however, rejected the allegations.

“The allegations made in the recent international media against IMCL are absolutely false, ill-informed and misleading… IMCL complies with every legal and ethical requirement for the transplant procedures including all guidelines laid down by the government as well as our own extensive internal processes that exceed compliance requirements,” a hospital spokesman said in a statement.