Organ-ised Crime In Colombo Hospitals?
- Crossborder Kidney Racket :
by Hafsa Sabry-Sunday, April 24, 2016
The Colombo Hulftsdorp Court has issued an arrest warrant on one of the seven Indian nationals arrested in connection with kidney transplants being carried out in some private hospitals. The suspect had escaped from the Mirihana detention camp.
Colombo Additional Magistrate Nishantha Peiris issued a warrant for the suspect’s arrest and also imposed a travel ban on him. The Magistrate also issued an order to the Controller, Department of Immigration and Emigration, to capture the suspect if he attempts to leave the country. The Defence Counsel informed court that the escapee has no links to the other six suspects.
“We have alerted the Department of Immigration and Emigration and the Police Department asking that they arrest the suspect as soon as he is spotted; the suspect should not be allowed to leave the country and both departments will work together in this regard,” Police Media Spokesperson ASP Ruwan Gunasekara told The Sunday Leader.
The Magistrate detained the remaining seven suspects until May 2.
It is an offence under the Immigrants and Emigrants Act for a foreign national to enter/ stay in Sri Lanka without valid travel document and/or valid visa. Foreign nationals who violate the Immigrants and Emigrants Act are liable to be arrested, detained and removed from the country and his /her name will be included in the blacklist thus preventing him from entering the country again.
If detected at a port of exit he/she will be required to pay the visa fee and a penalty as the case maybe and his/her name will be included in the watch list. He/she may be interviewed on his/her next arrival into the country. If he/she does not pay the penalty, his/her name will be included in the blacklist and prevented from entering the country again.
It was under this law that the eight suspects were initially arrested in Wellawatte on March 4 for allegedly violating visa conditions. Following the arrest and inquiry they were also allegedly found to be involved in the illegal kidney racket in Sri Lanka.
As the suspects had scars suggesting they may have been subjected to the removal of their kidneys, the court ordered them to be produced before the Colombo Judicial Medical Officer. It was then revealed that the kidneys of six of the youth involved in this kidney racket carried out jointly by Indians and Sri Lankans, had been removed in several local private hospitals. The court issued an order to the Director of the Private Hospital Development Unit of the Health Ministry to submit a report with regard to the alleged illegal kidney transplants. Defence lawyers said all surgeries had been carried out legally.
The Crimes Division also informed court that it had recovered 21 rubber seals in the possession of the suspects which are only permitted to be used by recognised doctors. The seals have been sent to India through Interpol for further investigation. The Sri Lanka Police will also seek Interpol assistance for further investigations into the illegal kidney racket. The Transplantation of Human Tissues Act (No. 48 of 1987) for kidney transplants carried out in private hospitals, for both local and foreign patients, mandates seeking approval from the Health Ministry for each operation.
Meanwhile police investigations into the recent activities of a kidney racketeer in India concerning several illegal kidney transplantations revealed the involvement of three leading private hospitals in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan Health Ministry has not given approval to these hospitals to carry out such transplants.
Director of the Private Hospital Development Unit of the Health Ministry, Dr. Kanthi Ariyaratne said there is an appropriate mechanism for approving the transplant of kidneys or any other human organs in the private and government sectors but the ministry was unaware that these particular transplantations were being carried out in these private hospitals.
“If the donor and the recipient are from overseas, there are more documents and medical tests required than if the donor and recipient are local,” she said. Police investigations revealed that the suspect had aided 15 transplantations during the past 14 months and had been a donor himself. The donors were from Nalgonda (4), Hyderabad (4), Bengalauru (4), Tamil Nadu (2), Mumbai (1) and New Delhi (1). Most importantly all transplantations surgeries were done in Sri Lanka at Nawaloka Hospital, Western Hospital and Lanka Hospital. Furthermore as the regulation for kidney or any other human organs transplantation reads, the donor (of kidneys) must be either a close relative of the patient or donating their organs for altruistic reasons if non-related.
Based on the recommendation of the application made by the Director of the Private Hospital Development Unit of the Health Ministrywhich is followed by Deputy Director-General (Medical Services), the final decision whether to approve or reject a transplant would come from the Health Services Director General.
