Pakistani police arrest rogue surgeon for kidney removal

KARACHI, July 8 (Reuters) Pakistani police have arrested a surgeon who is accused of stealing a kidney from a patient during an operation to remove a gall bladder, police said today.

Mohammad Kashif complained to police that he went in for the gall bladder operation on May seven and ended up minus one kidney.

Police arrested the surgeon yesterday in the southern city of Karachi.

''We are investigating the matter as we are keen to know why the doctor removed the kidney and where it has gone,'' senior police officer Zubair Mehmood told Reuters.

''We would like to know if the kidney has been sold and if there is a recipient. We want to recover it and find out if this is something bigger,'' he said.

Lacking effective legislation, Pakistan has become the centre of a cash-for-kidneys trade, with hundreds of poverty-stricken people selling their organs to private hospitals. But it is rare for people to have their kidneys removed without their knowledge.

REUTERS SRS KN1517