CONTINENTAL KIDNEY SCAM: TS WORD SOUGHT

Gachibowli police has booked a case of forgery and under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act against Continental Hospital but has now sought information from the director of medical education of Telangana state on how to proceed further.

The case pertains to alleged irregularities in a kidney transplantation case. An FIR was filed based on a complaint filed by Dr Praveen Kumar, formerly of the nephrology department of the hospital, who alleged that his signature was forged on the ‘forward note’ that establishes that the donor and receiver are related.

Gachibowli police have booked a case of forgery and under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act against Continental Hospital but has now sought information from the TS Director of Medical Education on how to proceed further.

The case pertains to alleged irregularities in a kidney transplantation case. An FIR was issued based on a complaint filed by Dr Praveen Kumar, formerly of the Nephrology department of the hospital, who alleged that his signature was forged on the ‘forward note’ that establishes that the donor and receiver are related.

Police are now probing whether the Bangladeshi live donor and the recipient of the kidney transplant are related.

Gachibowli inspector S. Chandrakanth said a case has been booked against the hospital and a request has been sent to the director of medical education for the records.

Gachibowli SI K. Rajender said that a threemember internal committee of the hospital has to conduct a compatibility test and test for establishing the biological relationship between the donor and recipient and then send a forward note to the Transplant Authorisation Committee of the Director of Medical Education.

“The allegation is that the complainant, Dr Praveen, who was part of the internal committee, did not approve the forward note. He rejected it saying the donor and recipient are not biologically related. We are sending the original signature of the complainant and signatures on the forward note to the Forensic Laboratory. We are awaiting a reply from the DME and then we will know whether the kidney transplantation was done and whether there are violations,” Mr Rajender said.

Continental Hospital has a Centre for Kidney Diseases & Renal Transplant which does a large number of transplantations every year.

Continental claims that everything is legal. In a statement, the hospital said, “Continental Hospital wishes to emphasise that all organ transplants were done following laws. All transplants were conducted after receiving approvals from authorities, including the Transplant Authorisation Committee, DME, Ministry of Health, Telangana...The Hospital is not aware of any FIR being filed against the Hospital or any nephrologists. Any such allegation is false and any complaint made by Dr Praveen against the hospital or its employees will be dealt with appropriately. Further, on Dr Praveen, the hospital wishes to highlight that there were several disciplinary issues pending against him at the time of his resignation. The Hospital is investigating and will take action.”

When contacted, Dr Praveen Kumar refused to divulge details of his complaint and said, “Let the law take its course.” Asked about the hospital’s allegation of disciplinary proceedings against him, he said, “It is nonsense on the part of the hospital personnel.”