Find and punish kidney racket mastermind
We are horrified to learn of a cross-border racket of illegal kidney transplant in India that has been sourcing the organ from Bangladesh for years. According to a report by The Indian Express, police recently arrested seven individuals in Delhi, including three Bangladeshis and an Indian doctor, in connection with this racket. Delhi Police also said the mastermind of the racket is a Bangladeshi national, and those involved with this illegal operation are all suspected to have links with Bangladesh. This racket is a part of a larger interstate network in India involving Bangladeshi patients in Rajasthan and Haryana, sources at Delhi Police say.
The racket, according to Delhi Police, targeted kidney patients by visiting dialysis centres in Bangladesh. They found donors from poor and marginalised backgrounds, luring them to India under the pretence of employment. It also arranged to falsify documents under the name of Bangladesh High Commission in Delhi to show that the donors and recipients were related by blood—a requirement for kidney transplant per the Indian law. Dr Vijaya Kumari, who was employed at the Delhi-based Indraprastha Apollo Hospital (IHS), facilitated the transplants even when she knew about the donors and recipients not being blood-related. The now suspended doctor performed 15-16 such illegal transplants between 2021 and 2023 at the Noida-based Yatharth Hospital.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. Police also found documents carrying records of transactions that took place for the transplants from one of the Bangladeshi accused. Donors were paid four to five lakh rupees for their kidneys, while recipients were charged 25-30 lakh rupees.
While we are glad that police nabbed the culprits, we are disturbed that so many illegal transplants took place with no one being the wiser. The Bangladeshi trio who were arrested in Delhi had been arrested on the same charges last month. How did they get out and continue their nefarious activities? We urge both the Bangladesh and Indian authorities to coordinate and delve deeper into the matter and uproot the entire network. On the Bangladesh side, a thorough investigation must be conducted to find the mastermind of the racket and all its members, and bring them all to book.
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