A fresh probe is under way into alleged irregularities in the harvesting of organs from a brain-dead patient and the transplant of the organs on foreign nationals in 2018. The case involves a private medical college hospital in Salem and two hospitals in Chennai.
After the first inquiry report confirmed violations of the Transplantation of Human Organs & Tissues (HOTA) Act, 1994, and offences of forgery, cheating and criminal conspiracy involving some doctors and two former employees of the Transplant Authority of Tamil Nadu (TRANSTAN), the State government constituted a second committee to examine the findings of inquiry officer A. Thomas Prabhakar, the then Assistant Commissioner of Police, HOTA Act. While the second inquiry committee’s report was not made public, Health Department sources told The Hindu that a fresh probe was under way.
The inquiry was first ordered after Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote to then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, seeking a probe into allegations made by the family of P. Manikandan of Palakkad an accident victim who was declared brain dead and his organs harvested in the hospital in Salem on May 20, 2018.
