Organ juggling: Major hospitals trade barbs over ‘illegal’ transplants

Pindi hospital accused of illegal organ transplants counterclaim that other hospitals are involved in their own racket

ISLAMABAD: The Supreme Court on Tuesday became the battlefield for well-known private hospitals to accuse each other of involvement in the illegal organ trade.

The shocking accusations came during a suo motu hearing into the illegal trade of organs, specifically kidneys, in the country.

The chief justice had taken suo motu notice on an application from Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation Director Dr Adib Hasan Rizvi, who had received an email from Canada in which allegations were made that illegal kidney transplants were being carried out at Al Syed Hospital, Rawalpindi. Later, the Punjab Police moved to verify internal records at Al-Syed Hospital.

After the verification began, the hospital, through lawyers Babar Awan and Dr Aslam Khakhi, approached the Supreme Court against the police’s actions.

Al-Sayed Hospital’s application alleges that the applicant, Dr Rizvi, and doctors at Al Shifa International and Sheikh Zayed Hospital are themselves involved in illegal transplants.

The application has referred to the case of a 15-year-old Syed Imran, who was taken to Al-Shifa Hospital Islamabad for treatment but he could not survive. The expenses of his treatment were Rs285,448. Al-Sayed claims that when the parents said they could not pay the expenses, the costs were negotiated against his kidneys. It claims that one kidney was kept by Al-Shifa, while other was taken by Dr Rizvi.

Al-Sayed Hospital contended that this violates the Human Organs Transplant Act, which requires a living will for organ donations from deceased persons under the age of 18, with certain exceptions. The hospital has also referred to alleged incidents of illegal kidney transplants at Sheikh Zayed Hospital in Lahore.

Awan and Khakhi appeared before a two-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali.

The counsels contended that their client are being harassed by certain agencies, which have no concern with the case. Upon this, the court reiterated that it expects all authorities to act strictly in accordance with the law.

Without taking a name, Awan also claimed that there is a hospital, where a huge number of illegal transplants are taking place.

Justice Qazi Faez Isa observed that they cannot close their eyes when organs are being stolen from the poor. The CJ then hinted at involving doctors with expertise or knowledge on the illegal organ trade in the country in the case.

Babar Awan suggested Pims-SZABMU Vice-Chancellor Javed Akram for this purpose. Assistant Advocate General Mudhasir Khalid Abbasi, while submitting a report, stated that the Punjab Human Organ Transplant Authority (PHOTA) has been established to take action against any hospitals involved in illegal organ transplants.

The chief justice also observed that there is no concept of self-accountability among the country’s institutions. He offered the example of the legal fraternity, observing that superior bars have not initiated any coercive actions against any lawyer over misconduct in decades.

The hearing of the case was adjourned till the first week of October.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 31^st, 2016.