The Kerala police have stumbled upon an organ transplant group that operates in the state. The initial inquiry was carried out by Inspector General of Police Sreejith, and he has recommended the registration of a First Information Report (FIR) to trigger a criminal investigation. According to the latest updates, the investigation is now centred around some hospitals in Thrissur.
Deception, treachery, and money
In a letter sent to Lok Nath Behra, the state police chief, Sreejith IPS revealed that several middlemen are working for hospitals, and they are directly involved in this organ trade. According to Sreejith, these people have cleverly deceived persons from needy families to donate their kidneys.
Shockingly, most of these organ donors do not have any connection with the recipient. The police did not find any particular reason other than monetary benefits for the donor to donate the organ to the patient.
Initial investigation revealed that donors have received at least Rs 10 lakh for donating their organs. However, the middlemen and hospitals might have received more than Rs 40 lakh from the recipients. A police official shockingly remarked that some of the government doctors and public servants are also involved in this illicit racket that operates in the state by mocking the law of the land.
Online charity in Kerala should come under the scanner
A few months back, some of the noted online charity workers that work like a mafia in Kerala had openly claimed that they should pay a hefty sum of money to the donors to carry out an organ transplant. Most of these online charity workers used to collect more than Rs 1 crore for kidney transplants via crowdfunding.
Buying organs using money is a violation of section 19 of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act (THOTA), and these online groups should also come under scanner in this investigation.
Earlier, several skeptics had alleged that these online charity workers are blatantly violating the foreign contribution regulatory act (FCRA). Even though complaints have been lodged against these charity workers, popularly known as 'Nanma Marangal' in Kerala, police have not initiated a strict investigation, mainly due to the huge fan following these charity workers enjoy in the state.
