The five-member committee appointed by the Ministry of Health had unraveled hidden information regarding the kidney racket, which was uncovered by the Indian Police.

The committee handed over the report of investigation of private hospitals in Sri Lanka to Minister of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, yesterday.

Quoting the report, Deputy Director General of Dental Services Dr. P. B. Bandara who served as the Chairman of the committee, said that several officials other than doctors were revealed to be associated with the kidney racket.

“6 doctors were said to be involved with the issue. But our investigations revealed that some of those people were not doctors. We investigated the names of them. Whether they were doctors or not, we found information that they were involved with illegal an act. Actually we only did a preliminary investigation. Police will conduct investigations on the roots of trafficking, nature, and adequacy”, Bandara said.

It had also been confirmed that doctors were involved with the kidney racket. The committee had spoken with some of the doctors who were charged, and others were not in the respective private hospitals, Dr. Bandara stated.

Furthermore, Dr. Bandara commented on reports of a member of Government Medical Officers Association being involved with the kidney racket.

“It was hard to say since we cannot investigate the GMOA. Association had stated that one of their members was involved. We did not attempt to find out whether he was a member or not. We only got to know that a person under the particular name was a member of the association. It was hard to uncover his involvement with a preliminary investigation. It would be revealed in the next step”, he commented.

Health Minister said that an inquiry would be conducted after studying the investigation report. He further said that Colombo Crime Division had already started investigations on the matter.