Surgeon at ‘cash for kidneys’ hospital linked to new organ trafficking claims

Delhi police arrest doctor over alleged links to a gang enticing patients from Bangladesh into an illegal kidney transplant racket

India has been hit by fresh kidney trafficking allegations just months after a Telegraph investigation revealed how impoverished Myanmar citizens were being lured to Delhi to sell their organs for profit.
The Delhi police have arrested a 50-year-old surgeon for her alleged links to a gang enticing patients from Bangladesh into an illegal kidney transplant racket that is reported to have falsified paperwork to allow foreigners to donate their body parts for cash.
Paying for organs is illegal in India, as it is across most of the world, but the country has faced recurring accusations of kidney trafficking, including the story highlighted by the Telegraph last December where, in a separate case, desperate young Myanmar villagers were flown to Delhi to donate to rich patients.
According to the Times of India and multiple local media outlets, Dr Vijaya Rajakumari, a visiting consultant at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in southeast Delhi and Yatharth Hospital in Noida, was arrested along with six others accused of running an organ donation network between Bangladesh and India.
The Delhi police confirmed to the Telegraph that Dr Rajakumari was under house arrest and that bail had been rejected by a lower court.
The accusations against Dr Rajakumari are not linked to the Myanmar case previously uncovered by the Telegraph.
The police have said Dr Rajakumari was the lone doctor working with the gang and had performed around 15-16 transplants from 2021-23 in the private Yatharth Hospital, reported the Indian Express. 
In the alleged racket, patients from Bangladesh were lured by a network of middlemen, Dr Rajakumari, and their associates for organ transplantation in the national capital region.
The description appears to mirror the organ trade between India and Myanmar revealed by the earlier Telegraph investigation.
Fake documents in the name of the Bangladesh High Commission in New Delhi, were allegedly prepared to claim there was a relationship between the donor and recipient, who were both Bangladeshi. This is a requisite under Indian law.
India’s Transplantation of Human Organs Act, passed in 1994, stipulates organs may be donated by living donors who are near relatives, like spouses, parents, siblings, grandchildren. Donations between strangers are forbidden, unless it can be proven it is for purely altruistic purposes.
These rules are supposed to be enforced by independent hospital medical boards who must sign off each case before a transplantation proceeds.
The Indian media has reported that even though the government’s authorisation committee had rejected the transplants at Apollo’s hospital, Dr Rajakumari allegedly conducted the transplant surgeries at other hospitals.
The case appears to resemble the Telegraph’s own findings, which uncovered a scam involving the elaborate forging of identity documents to present kidney donors as the relatives of would-be patients so that transplants could take place at the prestigious Indraprastha hospital.
At the time, Apollo Hospitals said it was “completely shocked” by the findings and would launch an internal investigation. “Any suggestion of our wilful complicity or implicit sanctioning of any illegal activities relating to organ transplants is wholly denied,” it added.
The Telegraph contacted Apollo to ask about the outcome of this probe as well as the latest accusations to emerge against Dr Rajakumari.
In response to the separate and unrelated Myanmar case, a spokesperson confirmed in a statement that the Delhi government had launched an inquiry.
“It is our understanding that the inquiry committee found our processes at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi to be in order,” it said.
“We maintain our stance that no investigation has found any irregularity or lapse in our procedures. In fact, in many instances we have chosen to go above and beyond the required provisions to ensure ethical and legal compliance.”
On the case of Dr Rajakumari, whose LinkedIn profile says she is a “senior transplant consultant at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, New Delhi,” the spokesperson underscored that “the cases in question pertain to surgeries conducted in another facility” and not at Indraprastha Apollo.
“Further, the doctor being referred to had privileges in multiple hospitals including the hospital where the alleged transplants occurred,” said the spokesperson.
“We maintain that at no point did this doctor or any other provider perform illegal surgeries at our hospital. We are firmly convinced that we have stringent policies in place with measures to ensure compliance.”
Apollo had previously told the Indian media that the doctor had been “engaged on a fee-for-service basis and not on the hospital’s payroll.”
It also said the IAH “placed the doctor under suspension” and that it had provided information for the Crime Branch investigation.
The Telegraph also approached Yatharth Hospital for comment. 
In a statement to media last week, it said it had no direct association with the doctor under investigation.
“For all our procedures, we ensure the highest ethical standards, prioritise patient safety and comply with all clinical and government protocols. We have co-operated fully with all investigations, and there have been no findings of wrongdoing against our hospital or our practices.”
The Indian Express quoted sources as saying she was engaged on a fee-for-service basis and not on the hospital’s payroll.
It said Additional Medical Superintendent of Yatharth Hospital, Sunil Baliyan, said the doctor was working with the hospital as a visiting consultant and performed transplants on patients brought by her.
“No patient of Yatharth was given to her and she had performed one surgery in the last three months,” he said.
In a further statement to media, a Yathartha Hospital spokesperson stated they have no direct association with the doctor under investigation, who was part of another hospital.
“For all our procedures, we ensure the highest ethical standards, prioritise patient safety and comply with all clinical and government protocols. We have cooperated fully with all investigations, and there have been no findings of wrongdoing against our hospital or our practices,” the spokesperson said in a statement.
The National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation (NOTTO), which falls under the Indian federal health ministry, has sought an urgent report from the Uttar Pradesh government, the state where Yatharth is based.
Last December, NOTTO also urged authorities in Delhi to investigate the Telegraph’s disclosures.
Dr Anil Kumar, the body’s director, reportedly asked the Delhi health secretary to “get the matter examined, take appropriate action as per the provisions of (the Act) and furnish an action taken report within a week.”
The Telegraph has on several occasions requested an update from Dr Kumar’s office but to date has not received a response.
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