Kidney racket: Officials inspect Tiruchi hospital premises

The Joint Director of Health Services and a team of officials in Tiruchi inspected the premises of a private hospital in the city named in an investigation into an illegal kidney transplant racket busted recently in Maharashtra, and submitted a report to District Collector V. Saravanan on Friday.

Department sources told The Hindu that the team visited the STAR KIMS Hospital in Thillai Nagar, whose director Rajratnam Govindaswamy, has been identified as one of the two surgeons involved in the racket.

Dr. Govindaswamy is said to have charged ₹20 lakh to conduct the illegal transplant surgeries.

“During our spot check on Friday, we found only five administrative staff members in the hospital. There were no patients or doctors. We questioned the staff and recorded their statements. Our report has been given to the Collector for action,” a senior official said.

The investigation stemmed from a complaint lodged by Roshan Kude, a farmer from Chandrapur district, Maharashtra, who had allegedly sold his kidney in Cambodia to repay a loan borrowed from local moneylenders.

The probe has revealed a pan-India kidney transplant network involving agents, donors, doctors, and hospitals.