Whose kidney is it?

Government appoints a three-member committee to investigate allegations of illegal organ transplant surgeries in private hospitals:

by Carol Aloysius

Kidney racket thrives in India and Sri Lanka (southasianmedia.net)

Following a circular banning kidney transplants on foreign nationals, the Health Ministry appointed a three- member Committee to inquire into the alleged illegal organ transplantation on foreign nationals allegedly arranged by some private Lankan hospitals with the connivance of foreign patients.

At least four local private hospitals in Sri Lanka have been accused by the Indian media for allegedly arranging to transplant kidneys on Indian patients who had paid or forced donors prior to their arrival for the operation in Sri Lanka.

The sale and use of any compulsion for human organs is strictly forbidden in Sri Lanka and in India, under the law.

Cabinet spokesman and Health Minister, Dr Rajitha Seneratne, addressing a media briefing at the Information Department on Thursday said, following a complaint from the Indian police, warning Sri Lankan authorities of the alleged racket a special committee has been set up to inquire and investigate the matter and submit a comprehensive report in a week. He said if any local doctors were involved in such illegal activities, they would be dealt with by the Law. He also said the Sri Lanka Medical Council could expel them from the profession if they were found guilty of the charges. He said the Health Services Director General had been instructed to obtain all information with relevant details on the matter from his Indian counterpart and submit a report to the Health Minister.

Chairman, Private Health Services Regulatory Council and Director General Health Services, Dr P. G. Maheepala, said in a hurried interview with the Sunday Observer, there was a temporary ban on organ transplantations on all foreign nationals in Sri Lankan health facilities. He said the ban would continue till the three-member Committee handed in their report after personally visiting the hospitals under scrutiny and gathering comprehensive details in an independent and unbiased manner to verify if such charges were true or not.

Temporary measure

(cdn.ruvr.ru)

An Indian police officer produces an accused in a recent kidney racket (Hindu)

This woman from Bangalore is a kidney donor for money (The HIndu)

Director, Private Health Development Sector, Dr Kanthi Ariyaratne endorsed these sentiments. Speaking as a member of the newly set up Committee, she reiterated that the ban on transplants on foreign nationals in Sri Lanka was only a temporary measure and would be lifted once the local report had been handed and the report of the Indian authorities received by the Ministry. Dr Ariyaratne said the committee would visit the hospitals under investigation, "to establish the genuineness of the relationship with the donor and the recipient". Other members of the Committee comprise the Provincial Health Services Western Province Director and Deputy Director General Investigation.

Health sources meanwhile admitted that proving an authentic donor -recipient link in the case of foreign nationals was not an easy task. "We have to rely on statements and documents which the donors and donees bring here. How do we know if they are really genuine or fraudulently obtained?" a health Ministry source queried.

How indeed, is the question that the Government Medical Officers Association seems to be mulling.

GMOA spokesman Dr Navin de Zoysa said there were several ethical issues regarding this thorny issue raised.

"Human tissue transplantation is a complex procedure. Whether the donor is a live person or a human cadaver, it poses ethical questions. Now that more people are demanding these life saving operations makes this issue still more complex and difficult to resolve at once," he said.

So does he see a solution at the end? Who should take the lead of finding one?

According to him, the first step must come from the government and the Ministry of Health. But before that the first action to be taken should be to sort out the current on going issue and clear the hot air grimed by the soot of dubious statements, rumours and the cloud of suspicion hanging over the heads of the local doctors supposedly involved in the racket.

He said the Indian press had said there were some Sri Lankan doctors found in India who were allegedly involved in the racket. " First we have to sort out this matter and see if the charges are true. If they ( the doctors) have done something wrong and engaged in an illegal activity, they must be punished.

But the investigations must be transparent and carried out in an independent manner. The GMOA will fully co-operate with the Health Ministry in any investigation on this matter," he said.

Reform the existing law

He said it was important to reform the existing law on Human Tissue Transplantation and create new protocol and guidelines as well as update them in order to bring them in line with the present surge in transplant demand. "The law needs to be strengthened," he added.

Health officials meanwhile told the Sunday Observer, the matter of reforming and strengthening the present archaic law was now being taken up as a priority issue. We had already identified areas for amending the law a few years ago. But now we are re-visiting them and giving specific attention to human organ transplantation since it had become the burning issue of the day:, unnamed officials said.

Sources at a private leading hospital in Colombo explaining the procedure involved in human organ transplants, said that when a patient required a transplant he/she would have to find a donor " Almost all our patients are local. The donors are either close relatives siblings, parents , uncles aunts etc) or close associates of the family who have offered their kidney on a voluntary basis after the tissue has been matched. So we have no problems, The problem rises only if a donor is un-related to the donee. Then the hospital undertaking such operations will be under pressure to find out whether the donor had come to a financial arrangement with the donee before hand or was forced into agreeing to the donation. The fact that most of these patients come with various documents to prove their claims makes it difficult for the hospital authorities to find out the real truth".

Asked if there were Ethical Committees in private hospitals in Sri Lanka, they said a few hospitals may have them but there was no general rule on this.

Health Ministry sources also confirmed this. So how were the investigations in India progressing?

Indian High Commission Information Officer Ms Esha Srivastava when contacted said "We are unable to make any official comment as investigations are still on going".