Kerala court issues summons to Lakeshore Hospital, 8 doctors on allegations of illegal organ transplantation

A Kerala court on May 29 issued summons to the Lakeshore Hospital in Kochi as well as eight doctors in relation to a complaint alleging illegal organ transplantation [Dr S Ganapathy v Lakeshore Hospital and Research Centre Pvt Ltd]..Judicial I Class Magistrate Eldos Mathew passed the order finding a prima facie case being made out against the accused under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act. The Court referred to the judgment of the Supreme Court in the case of Lalankumar Singh v State of Maharashtra wherein it was held that the order of issuance of process is not an empty formality. "The Magistrate is required to apply his mind as to whether sufficient ground for proceeding exists in the case or not. The formation of such an opinion is required to be stated in the order itself. The order is liable to be set aside if no reasons are given therein while coming to the conclusion that there is a prima facie case against the accused. No doubt, that the order need not contain detailed reasons," the Court added. .The victim in the case, after having met with a motorcycle accident, was admitted to the Mar Baselious Hospital in Kothamangalam and was later shifted to the Lakeshore Hospital where he was declared brain dead. Following this, his kidneys and liver were harvested. .The complaint highlighting the issue was filed by a doctor residing in Kollam who learned of the case via a newspaper report. On enquiring further, he found that the organ transplantation was done in gross violation of the existing laws and by obtaining the parents' consent through misrepresentation. .According to the complainant, the victim was denied proper treatment at both hospitals and his organs were transplanted to a foreign national in contravention of the statute. It was stated that a Apnoea Test was not conducted to determine whether the victim was brain dead and blood was not evacuated from the cranial cavity. This, according to the complainant, could have been life saving. Additionally, it was submitted that declaration of brain death was not done as per the given procedure. .In this background, the Court took into account various grounds brought forth by the complainant.It considered that the victim's life could have been saved by the evacuation procedure, but no effort was made to undertake the exercise at both the hospitals. Further, the Court noted that even prior to the declaration of brain death, the transplantation team visited the patient and a liver function test was conducted. .In light of this, summons were issued to all the accused while noting that the complainant had complied with all requirements under the Act. "On the grounds mentioned in the fore going paragraphs, I find that there is a prima face case and sufficient grounds for proceeding in respect of offences u/s. 18, 20 and 21 of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994 (pre-amended), against all accused", the order said. .The complainant was represented by advocate Santhan V Nair. .[Read Order]