Kathmandu, November 12

Lalitpur District Court today sent five persons accused of illegal kidney transplant in Pulchowk-based Nidan Hospital to judicial custody until the final verdict.

Those who were sent to judicial custody were CEO of Pulchowk-based Nidan Hospital Bipendra Pradhan, Legal Officer Kumud Kumar Bhattarai, General Physician Rajesh Panta, Section Officer of Lalitpur District Office Ram Chandra Ale and the kidney recipient Shankar Lal Lama.

Judge Madan Bahadur Dhami ordered that they be sent to jail until the adjudication of the case, according to court officials.

Barring kidney recipient Lama, all other accused were members of the Kidney Transplant Approval Committee formed by the hospital.

Police had arrested them after a person, whose kidney was removed for illegal transplant, filed an FIR against nine persons involved in the act, a few months after the transplant on August 8.

Out of the nine accused, police have arrested five persons while remaining four, all relatives of the kidney receiver Lama, have been at large. Human organ transplantation law requires an independent approval committee that verifies if the donor is legally appropriate and medically fit to donate one’s kidney to the recipient or not. As per the law, the committee had given approval for Sanjeev Ghising, nephew of the kidney receiver to donate one of his kidneys.

But, on the day of the transplantation the family of the patient ‘with tacit support of the hospital authorities’ produced a different person with forged documents replacing Ghising to donate kidney. The man had his photo pasted on the kidney transplantation document issued for Ghising.

Police said the man was lured by the patient’s family to donate his kidney for Rs 300,000. The hospital knowingly transplanted the kidney of wrong person to the patient, ignoring objection by one of the nurses to the illegal transplant.

Office of Lalitpur District Government Attorney had filed a case against nine persons as per the investigation report submitted by the Anti-human trafficking bureau of Nepal Police, on November 5.