An official from the Health Ministry as quoted by Reuters has said that the matter requires deep investigation.
Earlier, Delhi government’s secretary, health and family welfare S B Deepak Kumar told TOI that they were ordering an inquiry into the case. Apollo’s involvement was reported by London-based newspaper ‘The Telegraph’.
The daily claims that though paying for organs is illegal in India, a middleman in Myanmar told its reporter that “it’s big business”.
It said the modus operandi involves “elaborate forging of identity documents and staging of ‘family’ photographs to present donors as relatives of would-be patients. Under Indian and Burmese laws, a patient cannot receive an organ from a stranger in normal circumstances”.
The report, which names a hospital doctor, alleges that a lot of money changes hands in such illegal transplants.Indraprastha Medical Corporation Ltd (IMCL) on December 4 asserted that it follows every legal and ethical requirement for transplants, including government guidelines, refuting the report. The hospital, a part of the Apollo Hospitals group, said each foreign donor is required to provide a certification from their respective foreign governments that the donor and recipient are indeed related before undertaking transplant.
