Dera Bassi kidney racket: Punjab Medical Counci takes suo motu notice
Gaurav Kanthwal
Mohali, April 8
More than a fortnight after a case was registered against a worker of Indus International Hospital, Dera Bassi, for forgery and organ trade, the Punjab Medical Council (PMC) has taken a note of the incident. The PMC said it would initiate appropriate action against doctors, if found guilty.
PMC will take appropriate action
The Punjab Medical Council represents the registered allopathic doctors. It will take appropriate action if they do not follow ethical practices and guidelines laid down out by the transplant licensing authority. Dr CS Pruthi, PMC president
Taking a suo motu notice of the incident, PMC president Dr CS Pruthi said the council was aware of the case registered against an Indus International Hospital worker and that a special investigation team (SIT) was probing the incident. “The council will definitely initiate appropriate action against the operating doctor or any other doctor if they are found guilty.”
“The council represents the registered allopathic doctors of Punjab. It will take appropriate action if they do not follow ethical and patient-oriented practices and the guidelines laid down out by the transplant licensing authority,” said Dr Pruthi in a press release on Friday.
“There is no government hospital in Mohali district which carries out kidney transplantation as the district hospitals do not have elaborate tertiary care facility. As a result, patients have to go to private hospitals,” said a senior retired doctor from the Health Department.
A case under Sections 419, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120B, IPC, and Sections 19 and 20 of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994, has been registered at the Dera Bassi police station on March 18.
Indus Healthcare, owned by Dr Sant Prakash Singh, has three super-speciality hospitals in Punjab, two overseas divisions in Africa (Botswana) and a diagnostic centre.
The police arrested the hospital coordinator of the hospital on the charges of organ trade and forgery. One more person, Raj Narayan, was also arrested in the case on March 19.
The issue has been reported to the Director, Research and Medical Education (DRME), and the transplant licence of the hospital has been revoked.
