6 Arrests Made in Kidney Selling Case

[Don]

 
 
 

May 26, 4:12 AM (ET)

 
(AP) Pakistani citizens, who sold their kidneys for money, show scars to media at a police station in...
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LAHORE, Pakistan (AP) - Police arrested the owner of a private hospital in eastern Pakistan and three doctors after they were implicated in the illegal trade and transplant of kidneys, police said Saturday.

The arrests were made in overnight raids at two private hospitals in Lahore, said Tasaddaq Hussain, a police investigator. He said the doctors were being held for questioning.

The arrests came hours after police detained two men accused of enticing poor people to sell their kidneys for money.

The pair led officers to the city's two hospitals, where the four others were taken into custody, Hussain said.

"The illegal kidney transplant to other patients is not possible without the involvement of doctors," he said.

Acting on a tip, police on Friday raided a house in Lahore where 10 poor people were being held against their will. Four of the 10 had sold their kidneys for money, despite a government ban on selling human organs.

"These poor men had been assured by the arrested men that nothing will happen to their health, if they sold one of their kidneys," Hussain said. Hussain said each "donor" had been paid about $1,000.

Local media reports suggest scores of people in Pakistan sell their kidneys each year, usually to pay off debts. Arrests in such cases are rare.



 
 

[Sluff]

Wonder if Mitch was among those arrested? JK

[livecam]

Wonder if Mitch was among those arrested? JK

He was logged in last night so I doubt it. Do they allow laptops in Pakistani prisons?

[okarol]

Pakistani citizens, who sold their kidneys for money, show scars to media at a police station in Lahore, Pakistan on Saturday, May 26, 2007. Police arrested the owner of a local private hospital and three doctors hours after two men held for buying kidneys from poor people claimed they were involved in illegal transplants. The arrests came after police found 10 people who had been held at a home in the city, police said. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)

[stauffenberg]

I can assure all those interested that Mitch is alive and well and continuing to do his perfectly legal work in the Philippines to liberate foreign dialysis patients to a more normal life, after the irrational organ procurement policies of their home countries have left them without any other hope.