A 45-year-old man who underwent simultaneous kidney and liver transplant surgery in Belarus in early September last year died before the month was out, according to police sources. It was the second patient death related to overseas transplants arranged in Belarus last year by a Japan nonprofit organization that is suspected of illegal activities.
The fact that two people have died in connection with suspicious transplants was a factor in the Metropolitan Police Department establishing a criminal case against the Tokyo-based NPO Intractable Disease Patient Support Association, sources said.
The MPD arrested the NPO's director, 62-year-old Hiromichi Kikuchi, on Tuesday on suspicion of violating the Organ Transplant Law.
