Anbumani Ramadoss demands probe by CBI into organ transplant scam

Former Union Minister and PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss on Monday demanded a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the organ transplant scam in Tamil Nadu.

In a statement here, Ramadoss citing a news report said that at a time when several Indian patients were waiting for an organ transplant, organs harvested from a person declared brain dead in Salem were transplanted to foreign nationals admitted in two hospitals here.

Ramadoss said a Keralite youth, P. Manikandan, was declared brain dead by a private hospital in Salem after he met with an accident in Tamil Nadu in May 2018.

The PMK leader said the family members of Manikandan was forced to agree for organ harvest by the hospital officials.

The relatives of the deceased then complained to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who then wrote to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palaniswami who instituted a probe.

As per the probe report, the heart and lung of Manikandan were harvested.

The heart, which was originally meant for a Ukrainian national, was transported to a Lebanese national in a private hospital and the lung was transported to an Israeli patient, Ramadoss said.

Although there were Indian patients who were ahead in the wait list for an organ transplant, the two harvested organs were given to foreign patients.

Ramadoss said a senior government official had directed transplant of an organ to a foreign national.

According to the PMK leader during the past one year alone, 95 foreign nationals got 127 organs violating the organ donation/transplant norms.

Ramadoss said, the probe report by putting the blame on two outsourced staff Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu (TRANSTAN) has provided an escape route for others involved in this scam.

He said on an average Rs 12 crore was charged from foreigners for organ transplants.

According to Ramadoss, the scam running into hundreds of crore was being perpetrated in Tamil Nadu.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)