India's Apollo Hospitals' operator rejects allegation of illegal kidney transplants

Indraprastha Medical

05/12/2023 12:56

BENGALURU, Dec 5 (Reuters) - India's Indraprastha
Medical Corp  IMCL.NS , which manages two Apollo hospitals in
the national capital of Delhi, said on Tuesday that allegations
regarding its involvement in illegal kidney transplants are
false.
    The UK-based Telegraph reported on Saturday that Apollo
Hospitals Group  APLH.NS  was enticing young villagers from
Myanmar to their Delhi hospital to sell their kidneys to rich
patients around the world.
    The Telegraph said it first learned of the "cash-for-kidney"
racket through a case at the Indraprastha Apollo, which is
Apollo Hospitals Group's flagship hospital in Delhi.
    Indraprastha Medical operates this hospital as well as the
Apollo Hospital in Noida, which is part of the National Capital
Region (NCR).
    "The allegations made in the recent international media
against IMCL are absolutely false, ill-informed and misleading,"
Indraprastha Medical said in a statement.
    Apollo Hospitals Group declined to comment.
    The Delhi government is going to start a probe into Apollo
Hospitals Group, CNBC-TV 18 reported on Tuesday, citing sources.
    Reuters could not independently verify CNBC's report.
    Pritam Pal Singh, the Delhi government's media coordinator,
told Reuters he was unaware of any such investigation at the
moment, while Delhi Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj did not
immediately respond to Reuters' requests for comment.

 (Reporting by Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru, Rishika Sadam in
Hyderabad and Shivam Patel in Delhi; Editing by Savio D'Souza)
 ((Kashish.Tandon@thomsonreuters.com;))