Pune: Woman falsely presented as patient's wife to facilitate kidney swap
PUNE: A woman allegedly posed as a patient's wife so that he could have a kidney transplant through an exchange, Pune Police said on Wednesday.
The authorities at the private hospital where the kidney transplant took place last month brought the matter to the police's notice, officials said.
The woman too approached police, complaining that a middleman had promised her Rs 15 lakh, police said.
As per the hospital and police, the woman, who fraudulently posed as the wife of a man who needed a transplant, donated her kidney to a young woman patient.
In turn, the young woman's mother donated her kidney to the man.
Such a swap involving two patients and their relatives is carried out when the patients can not receive a kidney from their own kin because of blood group mismatch, officials said.
"After a preliminary probe into the complaints from the hospital as well as the woman, we found some truth in the case. We have sent our report to the medical authorities at the Sassoon General Hospital in the city for further action," said senior inspector Vinayak Vetal of the Koregaon Park police station.
The woman had presented herself as the wife of the patient before the regional authorization committee for organ transplant to get necessary approvals.
She also furnished a fake Aadhaar card and other fake documents as evidence.
"On March 29, four days after the transplant surgery, the woman revealed her real name at the time of discharge as she had had a dispute over money," the police officer said.
The male recipient of the kidney had allegedly promised her Rs 15 lakh.
The patient, who is around 30 years old, needed a kidney, but none of his relatives could be a donor because of blood group mismatch.
"A 19-year-old girl was also in need of a kidney and in her case too, none of her relatives' blood group matched," an official from the hospital said.
But the girl's mother could donate a kidney to the male patient.
"So he thought of getting someone who could donate kidney to the girl and have a swap transplant process," said the official.
The kidney transplant was performed by the hospital after following all statutory procedures of verification of documents and police verification, he said.
"The doctors at the hospital are not at fault. It was the male patient and the woman who posed as his wife who cheated the authorization committee and hospital," he added.