Hyderabad: The Rachakonda police, on Saturday, January 25, arrested 7 more alleged members of the recently busted kidney transplant racket in Alakananda Hospital located at Saroor Nagar of Hyderabad.
The arrested members include a general surgeon identified as Siddamshetty Avinash and five medical assistants identified as Narsagani Gopi, Ramavath Ravi, Sapavath Ravinder, Sapavath Harish and Podila Sai, as well as a mediator identified as Ponnuswamy Pradeep.
They were produced before the court and were remanded in judicial custody.
Earlier on January 23, the police had arrested the hospital’s managing director Guntupally Sumanth and some of the other alleged members of the racket.
During the initial raids that took place at the hospital on January 21, the police found four individuals, including illegal kidney donors and receivers who were shifted to Gandhi Hospital for better medical care.
Officials of Rachakonda police and the department of medical and health conducted searches at Alkananda Multi-Speciality Hospital following complaints that the hospital was carrying out kidney transplants without mandatory permissions.
The hospital authorities were found to be allegedly luring kidney donors from other states and calling doctors outside Telangana to perform the transplants.
The racket collected between Rs 55 lakh and Rs 60 lakh from each recipient while promising to pay Rs 4 lakh to Rs 5 lakh for kidney donors, which was often not paid.
The lead surgeon received Rs 10 lakh for each transplant, Rs 2.5 lakh paid for the facilitating doctors and approximately Rs 30,000 to each of the theatre assistants while the remaining amount was distributed among the organizers and mediators.
Kidney transplant racket in Hyderabad: 8 brokers arrested
Loss-incurring hospitals turned into kidney rackets
According to the police, one of the main accused Siddamshetty Avinash had been running a hospital named Janani Hospital in Saidabad since 2022.
Facing financial losses, the doctor began the illegal kidney transplant racket at the hospital after being assured Rs 2.5 lakh per transplant. He provided the operation theatre and post-operative care for the patients.
The absconding organiser of the racket identified as Laxman from Vishakhapatnam would arrange the transplants, including doctors, assistants, donors, and recipients.
Despite running illegal kidney transplants to make easy money, administrative issues forced Dr Avinash to close down Janani Hospital in June 2024.
In the following month, Dr Avinash, who had completed his MBBS in China and had a diploma in surgery from Maharashtra, approached Dr Sumanth, an MBBS holder from Jyrgystan and the MD of Alakananda Hospital, to conduct the illegal kidney transplant business.
Telangana govt hands over Hyderabad kidney racket case to CID
20 illegal kidney transplants done in December 2024 alone
Dr Guntupally Sumanth of the Alakananda Hospital agreed to corroborate with the kidney racket, with him earning Rs 1.5 lakh per surgery, and Dr Avinash earning a share of Rs 1 lakh, the police said.
The kidney racket’s team of surgeons, identified as Dr Raja Shekhar Perumal from Tamil Nadu and Dr Sohib from Jammu Kashmir, and theatre assistants, identified as Shankar of Tamil Nadu Pradeep, and Suraj of Karnataka (all absconding), started surgeries at the hospital. The police said that the racket has done about 20 surgeries at Alakananda Hospitals in December 2024 alone.
Private hospital in Hyderabad sealed over kidney racket
The surgery team that was operating at Alakananda Hospitals were the same team that was doing illegal transplants at the now-defunct Janani Hospital, Aruna Hospital and many other hospitals across Hyderabad and India, said the Rachakonda police.
The illegal surgeries were organised by a man named Pavan alias Leon, and the main organizer, along with his assistant Purna alias Abhishik, both residents of Vizag, who remains at large.
Efforts to crack down on every member of the illegal kidney transplant racket are afoot, the police said.
Telangana Minister of Health Damodar Raja Narasimha vowed to take stringent action against those involved in illegal activities. He also directed officials to set up a task force to conduct more focused checks at hospitals to uncover such illegal practices in Telangana.
