Govt to take action against people involved in kidney racket

Chennai, Jan 21 (UNI) The Tamil Nadu government will take stringent action against those involved in the kidney racket in the city and also against erring hospitals, doctors, donors and acceptors, Health Minister K K S S R Ramachandran said today today.

Talking to reporters here, he blamed the previous AIADMK regime headed by Ms Jayalalithaa for not taking any action against the ''kidney brokers'', against whom complaints were received by the Health Ministry.

''From the list of 30 people, whose names were provided by Ms Jayalalithaa, 26 of them had donated kidneys during her regime,'' he claimed.

''We have records to show that a women's welfare association from Korrukupet had already submitted a petition to the Health Ministry, which had forwarded it to the then DGP A X Alexander for action. But the police did not take any action,'' he added.

Mr Ramachandran said Ms Jayalalithaa, who had also held the Home portfolio then, should take the full responsibility for her Ministry's negligence on the issue. ''If her government had acted then, the racket could have been curbed,'' he said.

Reeling out statistics about kidney transplant in the hospitals across the state, he said the number of cases had risen from 471 in 2000 to 672 in 2005.

He said the government had asked the authorisation committee for organ transplant to forward the applications to the police for checking the credentials of the organ donors and acceptors, on the lines of police enquiry for passports.

Those who had donated kidneys in ten private hospitals had submitted forged documents.

''We have conducted an enquiry with the people in the tsunami Nagar area. The brokers had utilised a loophole in the Organ Transplant Act that the donors could donate it out of love and affection,'' he said.

Warning stringent action against erring donors and acceptors, Mr Ramachandran said such hospitals and doctors would be severely punished, if they were found guilty.

UNI