How kidney doctor made a killing

While six deaths have been confirmed in the transplant surgery, the allegations are that as many as 20-25 labourers died and their bodies were cremated as ‘‘unclaimed’’ in Amritsar.

According to Sharma, there were three middlemen — advocate Rajan Puri, Yogesh Kumar ‘Tinku’ and Vicky Bhatia. ‘‘It all started four to five years ago at the tea stall of one Chuni Lal who used to extract blood from migrant labourers on a bench behind the tea stall. The labourers were paid Rs 10 and given a glass of milk. Then Tinku came in contact with Chuni Lal and took them to Dr Sareen and his computer operator, Kulwinder Singh. Dossiers of all these labourers were then maintained by the hospital,’’ said Sharma.

When patients in need of kidneys contacted the Kakkar Hospital of Dr Sareen, they were put in touch with the labourers holed up in guesthouses and other places in Amritsar.

‘‘Depending upon the urgency of the need for the kidney and the size of the recipient’s pocket, anything between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh was charged for the transplant. The more urgent the need for the kidney, the higher the price,’’ said Sharma.

The breakdown of the payments made in an average case by the recipient, according to the police investigations, was as follows:

• Preparing case file at hospital: Rs 10,000
• Preparing a false affidavit: Rs 10,000
• Varying amount for the dialysis
• Medicine, tests and extra charges: Rs 50,000 upwards
• Purchase of kidney: Rs 2-5 lakh
• Payment to donor labourer: Rs 20,000-25,000
• Payment to middlemen: Rs 20,000-25,000
• Payment to Dr Sareen under the table: Rs 75,000

The tale of misery for the labourer did not end with his getting a small share of the kidney booty. According to Sharma, the Transplant of Human Organs Act, 1994, directs that for three months after the transplant operation, the donor’s medical care must be borne by the recipient of his/her kidney. ‘‘However, these poor labourers were discharged wihin seven days. They were even threatened with police action on the ground that they had broken the law. Chuni Lal has confirmed that six deaths occurred during these surgeries and these bodies were disposed of without an autopsy as unclaimed bodies. But the allegations are that as many as 20-25 labourers died during the surgeries,’’ said Sharma.