Six ‘organ harvesters’ arrested

Recently, the accused had taken a 14-year-old boy’s kidney

LAHORE:

Six suspected members of an organ transplantation gang were arrested by Investigations Police in Manawan. This was confirmed by SP Investigations Cantonment Aftab Ahmad Phularwan. The arrested suspects were identified as Amjad, Faisal, Yousaf Ali, Maqbool, Faisal Khan and Akabar.

SP Phularwan shared that it was an organized criminal operation, in which at least five doctors including a surgeon were also involved. The suspected organ harvesters would reportedly lure victims, largely the desperately poor, by offering them jobs and other monetary benefits.

In a recent case, the kidney transplant of 14-year-old Abdullah was conducted. The suspects conducted the procedure after an acquaintance of the victim lured him under the pretext of getting him a job. The suspects took him to Rawalpindi, where they had set up an operation theatre in a private lab.

The suspects conducted the kidney transplantation, but the victim’s condition deteriorated during the operation. The victim remained under treatment at the lab for 17 days. After his family came to know about the ordeal, they approached Manawan Police and lodged an FIR. FIA teams and the Punjab Human Organ Transplant Authority (HOTA) also became involved in the matter.

PHOTA wrote a letter to Capital City Police Officer (CCPO), stating that if they made the authority a complainant in the case, the accused persons would not only be jailed for many years, but would be slapped with a fine of over Rs10 million.

SP Phularwan said that after police took notice of the incident, they launched an investigation and started searching for the accused persons. Using modern technology and policing methods, they identified the suspects’ location and launched a raid. He added that the accused were perturbed after the victim child’s condition deteriorated and it took him many days before he could heal. They were about to get his statement recorded under section 164, implying his consent in the matter. However, police arrested them and interrupted their attempts.

The SP implied that the accused would mint millions of rupees for organ transplantation, however donors would receive meagre sums, amounting to as few as several thousand rupees. Even this much amount was reportedly eaten up by the agent.

He vowed to arrest the other members of the gang soon and take the case to its logical conclusion.

Towards the end of December, Punjab Health Minister Dr Yasmin Rashid said that indiscriminate action would be taken against elements involved in the illegal business of organ harvesting in the province. She expressed these views while chairing the 20th meeting of PHOTA on December 31st. She said an awareness campaign would be conducted to make PHOTA beneficial for the people.

“Training is being given to transplant coordinators of registered hospitals across the province. No leniancny will be allowed against criminals who play with human lives,” she remarked.

Health Secretary Dr Ahmad Javaid Qazi, DG PHOTA Dr Shehzad Anwar,, Prof Ghayasuddin Nabi Tayyab, representative of Finance Department and Dean Pakistan Kidney and Liver Transplantation Institute, Dr Faisal Saud Dar, Mian Zahidul Rahman Baata and PHOTA officers attended the meeting. PHOTA Director General Dr Shehzad Noor delivered a briefing to the health minister.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2023.