Indian doctor held for Bangladesh-India kidney transplant 'racket'

An Indian doctor working for the Delhi-based Indraprastha Apollo Hospital has been arrested for her alleged involvement in an organ transplant racket between Bangladesh and India, reports The Indian Express.

Dr Vijaya Kumari, now under suspension is the only doctor who was part of the scheme. The 50-year-old worked with the gang to perform around 15-16 transplants from 2021 to 2023 in a Noida-based private Yatharth Hospital.

According to The Indian Express, in the alleged racket, records show, patients from Bangladesh were lured by a network of middlemen, Kumari, and their associates for organ transplantation in major hospitals in the national capital region. Besides Kumari, three Bangladeshi nationals were arrested last month.

Fake documents in the name of the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, were allegedly prepared to claim there was a relationship between the donor and recipient (both Bangladeshi) — a requisite as per Indian law. Sources said that these forged documents have also been seized.

Kumari, a senior consultant and a kidney transplant surgeon, joined Apollo Hospital as a junior doctor almost 15 years ago. She was engaged on a fee-for-service basis and not on the hospital's payroll.

Additional Medical Superintendent of Yatharth Hospital, Sunil Baliyan, told The Indian Express that Kumari was working with the hospital as a visiting consultant and performed transplants on patients brought by her. "No patient of Yatharth was given to her and she had performed one surgery in the last three months," he said.

An Indraprastha spokesperson said, "Given this action by the police, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals placed the doctor under suspension. IAH was previously approached by the Crime Branch seeking certain information as part of an investigation, which was duly provided."

The spokesperson added, "This action is subsequent to an investigation pertaining to procedures carried out at another hospital and prima facie not related to any action or acts at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals."

According to the report, in the present case, one Rasel, 29, along with associates Mohammed Sumon Miyan, Ifti, all based in Bangladesh, and Tripura-based Ratish Pal, lured potential donors from their country to Delhi. They would donate their kidneys for Rs4-5 lakh (Indian rupee) and recipients were charged to the tune of Rs25-30 lakh, a source said. Except for Ifti, all other accused have been arrested.

"We received information after a kidney racket was busted in Rajasthan and police started working around three months ago. All the accused are first-timers, and they are giving Rs2-3 lakh to the doctor for every transplant," the source said.