Team probing ‘organ theft’ gives clean chit to Salem hospital

COIMBATORE: Days after Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan sought an inquiry into alleged organ theft by a private hospital in Salem, a team of officials attached to the Tamil Nadu

health

department on Sunday said organs were harvested in compliance with the regulations and there was no theft of organs as alleged.


The team had on Saturday night visited Coimbatore Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) as part of the inquiry and taken statement from a patient.

P Manikandan, of

Palakkad

district in Kerala, and five others were admitted to the Vinayaka Mission Super Specialty Hospital in Salem on May 18 after they met with an accident. Doctors declared Manikandan brain-dead on May 20. His family members alleged that they were forced to sign documents pertaining to organ donation as they could not afford the bill.

The kin of the deceased subsequently petitioned the Kerala CM, who requested his counterpart Palaniswami to order a probe, which the latter did. Another victim of the accident, A Manikandan, was admitted to CMCH. The team, comprising joint director of health in Salem, visited him at the hospital.

“We met the patient to ascertain his condition and also to seek information regarding alleged organ theft,” an official said.

Dr M R Enbasekaran, director of medical service, said the team, comprising 10 members, had earlier visited the Vinayaka Mission Super Specialty Hospital in Salem. “We checked all the case sheets, bills, documents and the video footage at the hospital and found that the hospital had followed all the rules. The chief operating officer of the hospital was seen explaining to the kin of the patient about organ donation. There is no theft of organs. We have also taken statements from A Manikandan and his relatives. I will submit the report to the government on Monday,” the official said.

Health secretary J Radhakrishnan said he was yet to get the report and could comment only after that. “We have called for a full-fledged inquiry into the complaint. We will not go by the hospital version alone. We will also record statements from the family members,” he said.

Chief operating officer of Vinayaka mission hospital, Dr V P Chandrasekaran, told TOI that it was the

CCTV

footage that saved them. “In my room, I have a CCTV camera with audio recording facility. We showed the footage to the team. We also had all the bills and documents to show that we had not sought any money,” he said.

P Manikandan, 24, A Manikandan, A Pambavaasan, 18, S Karthick, 23, V Vigneswaran, 16, and

K Govindan

, 24 with an accident near

Kallakurichi

in Villupuram while they were returning to Kerala from Chennai. The condition of P Manikandan and A Manikandan were critical, while others were discharged after treatment.

On May 22, P Manikandan was declared brain-dead and organs were harvested with the consent of his family. His heart was given to Fortis Malar hospital in Chennai, lungs to Global hospital in Chennai, one kidney to KMCH, Coimbatore, and another kidney to the Salem hospital. The liver was allotted to Manipal hospital.