I Hate Dialysis Message Board
Dialysis Discussion => Dialysis: News Articles => Topic started by: okarol on January 26, 2008, 10:02:42 AM
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Hospital sealed, owner arrested in a kidney racket
NDTV Correspondent
Saturday, January 26, 2008 (New Delhi)
The police late on Friday night shut down Faridabad's Sriram Hospital, whose owner Dr Upendra has been arrested on charges of running an illegal kidney transplant racket.
The Income tax department conducted a raid on the hospital earlier on Friday evening. Details of as many as 55 bank account documents and properties in different cities were uncovered in the raid.
A K tripathi, Additional Director, Income tax, Haryana said, ''We have found loan documents of Rs 3 crore, documents of properties in Gwalior, Meerut, Faridabad and other places. 55 bank accounts and other 35 bank accounts opened under unknown name.
Gurgaon and UP police have unearthed a racket where labourers would be lured and then operated for their kidneys.
The large-scale operation involved doctors and foreign clients and it was being run from a Gurgaon hospital.
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080039512&ch=1/26/2008%2010:14:00%20AM
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Kidney racket leaves family distraught
Rajat Kain
Saturday, January 26, 2008 (Gurgaon)
Among the patients who were allegedly forced to surrender their kidneys, is a 28-year-old man who left his home in Ghaziabad after a family fight. He was reunited on Saturday after years and it was a reunion more difficult than either side had ever imagined.
Zebunissa has spent two years dreaming of this moment, a chance to see her son who ran away after a fight with his father.
The morning newspapers were full of her son's photographs and then her husband and she spent their journey from Ghaziabad to the Gurgaon hospital, praying for help.
And then she is told that her son has been cheated out of a kidney, just four days ago.
''It feels good to have my son back but look at him, he is come back in what condition? Don't know what to say,'' said Zebunissa.
Shakeel was one of the three patients rescued in police raids at the Gurgaon headquarters of Dr Amit Kumar, who performed more than 500 illegal kidney transplants in the last 8 years.
''I was picked up at the railway station and offered a job for Rs 250 daily wage. Then I was taken to a place and my blood test was done. I was told it was done to check if I have any illness,'' said Shakeel, one of the victims.
After that Shakeel was kept under virtual house arrest and then earlier this week, he was sedated and when he woke up he was without a kidney.
And then within minutes, Shakeel's father has his own worries.
''How will I take the expenditure of his treatment? Our financial condition is so weak, my children have to work with rag picker to earn a livelihood,'' said Abdullah, victim's father.
For Shakeel's family, the ambiguity is inexplicable. They're happy to be reunited with their son who went missing one and a half years ago, but at the same time, their financial condition has left them worried.
Abdullah, a tailor says this is his worst shame that as a father, he has to weigh his son's life against his finances.
The kidney racket exposed in Gurgaon echoes with the voices of many Abduallahs, who had no choice but to opt for money above everything else.
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/story.aspx?id=NEWEN20080039563&ch=1/26/2008%2010:39:00%20PM
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This sounds like one of those urban legends. What a sad state of things for people with failing kidneys if we are resorting to this.
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Two American dialyzors have been detained too.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Health/story?id=4209232&page=1
Two Americans Detained In Kidney Racket
U.S. patients held at Indian hospital on suspicion of illegally buying organs.
By KAREN RUSSO
MUMBAI, India, Jan 29, 2008—
Two dialysis patients from New York are being held in India on suspicion of involvement in a crime ring that forced poor Indians to give up their kidneys for transplant, authorities announced today. The two Americans have not yet been charged in a crime, but police are "examining" the situation, said Manjit Ahlawat, joint police commissioner of the city of Gurgaon in Haryana state.
Indian authorities identified the patients to ABC News, which is not publishing their identities until conducting further verification. The patients are undergoing treatment at a hospital in New Delhi.
They have been forbidden from leaving the country because they were believed to have been waiting for an illegal kidney transplant.
Police last weekend swooped down on the alleged ring, which officials estimated stole 500 to 600 kidneys from poor people in Gurgaon, a high-tech city on the outskirts of New Delhi.
The kidneys were transplanted into the bodies of wealthy Indians or foreigners. Five foreign tourists, including the two Americans, were found Saturday in what police described as a "luxury guest house," awaiting kidneys. There was reportedly a transplant waiting list of some 40 foreigners from at least five countries.
The mastermind behind the scam is believed to be Dr. Amit Kumar (also known as Dr. Santosh Raut), whom Mumbai police have been pursuing since 1993. The doctor had previously been arrested in Delhi in 2000 for involvement in the illegal trade of organs.
Unsuspecting victims of the scam said they were promised a job, then taken to a private house and forced at gunpoint to sell a kidney. The transplants occurred inside the house, which was equipped with a hidden state-of-the-art operating room. Those who sold their kidneys received about 50,000 rupees, or $1,300 although wealthy clients were said to have paid 10 times that amount.
Some victims said they had not agreed to sell their organs but were "given some money so they wouldn't talk" after their kidneys were stolen from them, Ahlawat said. These people reportedly received between $1,280 and $2,560.
Many victims were told that they needed to undergo a blood test screening for a potential job, only to wake up to find they had undergone surgery and had a kidney extracted.
"I was approached by a stranger for a job. When I accepted, I was taken to a room with gunmen," Mohammed Salim told India's local NDTV television channel. "They tested my blood, gave me an injection and I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I had pain in my lower abdomen and I was told that my kidney had been removed."
Suspicious neighbors said they had noticed blood running out of the house's gutters, as well as blood-soaked bandages and even bits of flesh thrown into an open lot near the house, according to Reuters.
The doctor accused of heading the group may have fled the country and as many as 50 medical officials may have been involved in the racket, according to police. A spokeswoman for Interpol told ABC News that the agency had not been asked by the Indian authorities to issue an international arrest warrant.
Detectives from Mumbai, where the doctor allegedly ran a previous illegal kidney racket, are working with authorities in Gurgaon.
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
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This story is going to give kidney donation a bad rep. I have trouble enough getting healthy people to recognize the need for living kidney donation. With this story in the news, plenty of people will simply look at is as another reason not to donate.