Pune hospital's registration for organ transplants suspended

Pune: Days after sending a show-cause notice to the city-based Ruby Hall Clinic over alleged malpractice during a kidney transplant procedure, the Maharashtra Health Department has suspended the hospital's registration for organ transplantation, its lawyer claimed.

A woman had allegedly posed as the wife of a patient so that he could undergo kidney transplant at the private-run hospital. After this came to light, the health department had issued a show-cause notice to the hospital and the latter had sent a reply.

"We have received a notice stating that our registration for organ transplantation is suspended for six months or until the report of the investigation committee comes," said advocate Manjusha Kulkarni, legal advisor of Ruby Hall Clinic. The action was "unfair" and the hospital will look for a legal remedy, she added.

As per the suspension notice, the health department concluded after going through the reply that the hospital did not scrutinise the documents of the donor and recipient such as Aadhaar cards, marriage certificate, age certificates and educational certificates carefully. Patients (organ recipients and donors) who are registered with the centre will be shifted to the nearest facility with their consent, it added.

"How come our registration is being suspended without concluding the probe? Police have also given a report that there were monetary transactions between the patient and the donor woman. The woman also admitted that she had given her kidney in return for money. In such a situation, how come we are being blamed," advocate Kulkarni asked.

Permission for the transplant had been granted by the regional authorisation committee of the government-run Sassoon Hospital, the lawyer pointed out. A woman from Kolhapur, who was allegedly promised Rs 15 lakh, fraudulently posed as the wife of a man who needed a transplant and donated her kidney to a young woman patient.

In turn, the young woman's mother donated her kidney to the man. Such a swap involving two patients and their relatives is carried out when the patients can not receive a kidney from their own kin because of a blood group mismatch.

On March 29, four days after undergoing the transplant surgery at Ruby Hall Clinic, the woman revealed her real identity after she had had a dispute over money. The hospital then alerted the police. Police reported the incident to the health department which initiated an inquiry. 

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