MPs grill hospitals accused of organ trafficking

Kenyan MPs from the National Assembly's Health Committee on Thursday grilled hospital leaders about transplants on foreign patients linked to organ trafficking claims. The Mediheal Group of Hospitals and two other facilities are under investigation for illegal organ harvesting after a probe discovered that foreign patients had received organ transplants paid for by the now-defunct National Health Insurance Fund. The Kenyans reports that this emerged when Robert Pukose, Endebess MP and committee member, questioned officials from one of the hospitals about whether they had treated any foreign patients. A medical officer at Mediheal hospital confirmed that five patients were from Somalia. Most of the cases involved blood relatives, the medical officer said. The committee demanded that the hospital representatives provide details of all transplants conducted, including the nationality, identification and contact information of both the recipients and donors. Based on the records presented to the committee, one of the facilities had performed 34 kidney transplants. The hospital admitted that some of the cases had resulted in complications, including death. Despite admitting to gaps in their follow-up and co-ordination, hospital officials maintained they had not committed any malpractice. They emphasised that all transplants were conducted in accordance with Kenyan laws, including the Health Act, the Human Tissues Act and the Data Protection Act, as well as ethical standards on autonomy, justice and consent.