A day after a Kerala court issued summons to the Kochi Lakeshore Hospital and its eight doctors over alleged illegal organ transplantation, the hospital on Thursday, June 15, reiterated its full cooperation and compliance with the ongoing probe to ensure that all facts are revealed through a thorough and impartial examination. The court had passed the orders based on a complaint filed by Dr S Ganapathy, a doctor from Kollam, who came to know about the incident through a newspaper article. Abin (18) met with a two wheeler accident and was rushed to Mar Baselios hospital in Kothamangalam on November, 29, 2009, and later to Lakeshore on November 30, 2009, where the hospital harvested his kidneys and liver. Two experts have now told the court that the procedure was not followed to establish that Abin was brain dead and a crucial test to determine the same was not conducted.
Following the court's intervention, the hospital in a statement said that the authorities have ordered an investigation to determine the validity of the complaint made by a private individual in the incident that happened around 13 years ago. In 2009, when the incident occurred, the only registered body in Kerala promoting cadaver organ donation was the Society for Organ Retrieval and Transplantation (SORT). The hospital pledged its wholehearted cooperation with the investigation and stated that all what they did then was in compliance with the Transplantation of Human Organs Act (THO).
"All investigations were conducted in the presence of two witnesses, and written consent for organ retrieval was obtained from the patient's mother. The hospital authorities sought assistance from SORT, Kochi, and acted under their written advice in retrieving cadaveric organs," reads the statement. The hospital asserted that during the incident, they strictly followed medical procedures, organ donation laws, and human rights laws. It regretted the circulation of false information about the hospital which has been providing exemplary emergency care services for over 20 years, and their ultimate goal is to ensure that all patients receive the best possible treatment.
