A day after it emerged that the request of a top executive of a leading telecom firm for kidney transplant was turned down, the state organ transplant officer said that they would not take any action against the executive and the donor as they don’t have any proof to suggest that the prospective recipient and the donor (a watchman in Gujarat) are not related to each other.
The 65-year-old executive’s request was rejected by the state organ donation authorisation committee on March 9 on the grounds that there was some financial disparity between the donor and the recipient, and that the recipient’s relationship with the prospective donor could not be proved.
No old family photographs of donor and recipient together could be provided.
An anonymous email dated March 12 alleging that the executive was trying to ‘buy’ the kidney confirmed their doubts, said the officer.
The officer said that they have not initiated any action at their level but they are writing to the Gujarat state organ donation authorisation committee asking on what basis they gave a go-ahead for the transplant.
Dr Gauri Rathod, assistant director at Directorate of Health Services (DHS), who is nodal officer for the state’s human organ transplant programme, said that they don’t have any proof which says that the executive and his nephew, who is in his 50s, are not related to each other.
“We have turned down the recipient’s request for the simple reason that we have suspected some monetary angle. Nowhere have we mentioned that they are not related to each other. We have only raised doubt in this particular case, but we cannot take any action against the executive. We are writing to Gujarat organ donation authorisation committee to look into it and asking them on what basis have they given a go- ahead report for the transplant,” said Dr Rathod.
“In this case, we have received an anonymous email stating that the executive was trying to ‘buy’ the kidney for Rs 15 lakh and a job for the prospective donor’s son, which proves our suspicion,” added Dr Rathod.
Dr Rathod said that during the state’s organ donation authorisation committee meeting, other family members of the donor and recipients such as donor’s mother, sister and their children were not present.
