The Federal Investigation Authority (FIA), in collaboration with the Punjab Human Organ Transplantation Authority (PHOTA), arrested three people, including a nephrologist doctor allegedly involved in an illegal kidney transplant.
Nephrologist Dr. Shahbaz, the former registrar of Jinnah Hospital Lahore, was arrested in Gujrat, while two other accused were arrested in Rawalpindi.
Among the two other accused, Shehzad was working as an agent and Ibrar Hussain as a private lab attendant in Rawalpindi. On a tip-off from the PHOTA, Director FIA constituted a raiding team headed by Sabir Mian, Deputy Director of the Anti-Corruption Circle (ACC).
The team conducted a raid and arrested the accused red-handed when they were receiving money from the patient's family. Dr. Shahbaz Malik demanded Rs 4 million from a patient family for a kidney transplant and initially received Rs 500,000 in advance through his agent in Lahore. Another agent, Shehzad, received Rs 500,000 from the same family in Rawalpindi for lab tests.
The FIA raiding team arrested Shehzad from Rawalpindi when he was receiving money there. During a preliminary investigation, the accused revealed that they had been engaged in this heinous business for a long time.
Shehzad said that they were running a ring to trap people for illegal kidney transplants. “These people have done around 80 kidney transplant procedures so far, out of which a patient also breathed his last due to an overdose of anesthesia," said FIA investigator Gul Shehnaz, who was also part of the raiding team.
Out of 80 patients, around 15 were foreigners who specially visited Pakistan for illegal transplants.
Agents trap poor people from the far-flung area of the country and offer them around Rs 200,000 to Rs 300,000 to donate their kidneys. While they charge Rs 4 to 8 million from the patient, they divide this heavy amount among themselves, including doctors, lab technicians, OT technicians, agents, and subagents. FIA investigators were busy with investigations because the accused are in FIA custody on physical remand.
Caretaker Provincial Minister of Health, Prof. Javed Akrram, rushed to the FIA office, addressed a press conference, and appreciated the teamwork of the FIA and HOTA authorities. The minister said that in the past, such accused got bail from courts due to poor prosecution, and the conviction rate remained very low.
The accused used to manage aggrieved families through undue pressure and financial help, due to which cases could not proceed further. But now the government has not only decided to tighten the HOTA laws but also plans to become an applicant in such cases.
