Pakistan: Poverty stricken blindfolded kidney sellers recovering, arrests made

[Clark]

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2406498/disturbing-details-emerge

Disturbing details emerge
Sources say victims were kept blindfolded until their kidneys would be removed

Imran Asghar/Jamil Mirza
March 17, 2023

RAWALPINDI:
Days after an illegal organ transplant racket was busted in a raid by the Punjab Human Organ Transplant Authority (PHOTA) and the Rawalpindi police at a private hospital in Morgah, horrible revelations are continuing to emerge during the investigation of the case.

The police made the statements of three victims, including a woman, who were recovered from the private medical facility, as part of the investigation. All three of them were smuggled from Okara to Rawalpindi.

It has also surfaced that kidney donors were brought to the hospital with blindfolds to hide the identity of the hospital and the doctors.

Sources said the kidneys of three people, including a woman, were bought for Rs1 million while the money could not be paid to them.

A police officer involved in the investigation of the kidney transplant scam, on condition of anonymity, told The Express Tribune that a five-day physical remand of the 10 people arrested during the raid has been obtained and more revelations were being made during the investigation.

Meanwhile, the police have also recorded the statements of the three kidney donors recovered from the hospital. All of them work at a brick kiln in Okara and are living below the poverty line.

“The members of the gang are so cunning that they choose their victims very skilfully. The three people selling their kidneys for money do not even know who brought them here. They don't even know that they are in a hospital in Rawalpindi and they can’t even tell which doctors operated on them,” the police officer said.

He added that: “the main reason for this is that the suspects bring the kidney sellers to Rawalpindi and keep them blindfolded until the operation and after removing their kidneys their blindfolds are removed and the treating doctors give them false names to hide their identity.”

The police officer said that 10 suspects were being interrogated to find out which patients received the kidneys of the three victims.

Meanwhile, the body of 65-year-old Iftikhar, who died in the operation theatre during the raid, was handed over to his relatives after a post-mortem examination.

The samples obtained from Iftikhar's body are being sent to Lahore for forensic analysis, the police officer said and added that the mobile phones of the 10 suspects would be sent to the FIA for forensics to trace out the other members of the gang.
“The forensic report of the mobiles will facilitate the identification of the network members of the group at home and abroad,” he said.

Donors being treated in RIUT

On the other hand, five kidney donors and a female patient, who received a kidney donation from her mother, are undergoing treatment at the Rawalpindi Institute of Urology and Transplant (RIUT).

Doctors have declared the condition of five donors and one female patient out of danger while a patient from Saudi Arabia has been shifted to a private hospital in Islamabad and a resident of Swat has been shifted to a private housing society hospital for further treatment.

According to sources, the 65-year-old citizen, who was shifted to the operation table for a kidney transplant and died, was to be transplanted with the kidney of 27-year-old Qaiser son of Majeed from Faisalabad.

Doctors have confirmed that Qaiser’s kidney was not removed but only a cut was made. “His condition is better now and he is being treated at the RIUT,” they said.

RIUT MS Dr Khalid Abbas Janjua says that the conditions of the donors and a female patient were out of danger.

RIUT Chief Executive Professor Zain Aamir says that the kidney transplant process is done as per PHOTA SOPs.