India's Apollo Hospitals' operator rejects allegations of illegal kidney transplants (updated)

Indraprastha Medical

05/12/2023 13:59

(Adds IMCL's updated comments, Apollo's response)
       BENGALURU/HYDERABAD, Dec 5 (Reuters) - India's
Indraprastha Medical Corp  IMCL.NS , which manages two Apollo
hospitals in the national capital of Delhi, said on Tuesday
allegations regarding its involvement in illegal kidney
transplants are false.
    Britain's The Telegraph newspaper reported on Saturday the
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 newspaper said it first learned of the "cash-for-kidney"
racket through a case at the Indraprastha Apollo, which is the
Apollo Hospitals Group's flagship hospital in Delhi.
    Indraprastha Medical also operates 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, in response to a Reuters request for
comment, said they agreed with IMCL's statement.
    The Delhi government will initiate an investigation into the
allegations, CNBC-TV 18 reported, citing sources.
    Reuters could not independently verify CNBC's report.
    "As part of corporate governance policy, IMCL has initiated
an inquiry into the matter to delve into all aspects of the
transplant process," IMCL said in a separate statement.  
        IMCL neither seeks unrelated donors nor its
representatives are authorised or instructed to find unrelated
donors for kidney patients, the company added.
  
        IMCL earlier said its patients and donors undergo
several medical tests, including genetic testing, as part of a
transplant procedure.
  
    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
and Sohini Goswami)
 ((Kashish.Tandon@thomsonreuters.com;))