MPs launch probe into kidney trade claims

The National Assembly Health Committee has started an 80-day public inquiry into the operations at Mediheal Hospital’s Eldoret branch following allegations of unlawful organ trafficking at the institution.

This comes on a day when the management of Mediheal Hospital denied any wrongdoing, terming the recent expose by Deutsche Welle (DW) as defamatory and a breach of the Data Protection Act, 2019.

Yesterday, Seme MP James Nyikal, who chairs the Health Committee, said that the inquiry will focus on examining the legality, ethical compliance, and oversight of kidney transplant services at the facility, and recommending necessary legal or policy reforms to safeguard the integrity of the country’s healthcare system.

“This is a serious matter that touches on the dignity of life and the reputation of Kenya’s medical profession. We intend to get to the bottom of it,” said Nyikal while speaking at Parliament’s Bunge Towers.

“We are going to ask critical questions such as were the procedures at Mediheal in line with the Health Act and Human Tissue Act? Was there evidence of organ commercialization? Were donors fully informed, or were they deceived or coerced into donating?”

Another key consideration of the probe will be whether proper immigration and licensing procedures were followed for foreign doctors, and whether recipient-donor relationships, especially in cross-border cases, were thoroughly vetted.

“Did Mediheal conduct due diligence in verifying the relationships between donors and recipients, especially where foreign nationals were involved?” posed Nyikal. “Were these matches medically appropriate, and did they meet ethical standards?”

The probe comes amidst the expose which alleged that the hospital could have been engaging in commercialised organ donations and transplant tourism.

The special investigation by DW, German media ZDF, revealed that Kenya was at the center of an international organ trafficking syndicate and implicated Mediheal as the hospital where the illegal transplants were being conducted.

It reported that kidney recipients who were mostly attracted from Germany would pay up to $200,000 (approximately Sh25.9 million) for an organ transplant but in one instance, a young Kenyan man was paid $4,000 (about Sh518,120) to donate his kidney in unclear circumstances.

In the interview, he says he was introduced to a middleman who arranged transport to the hospital, where he was given documents in English, a language he does not understand, to sign.

Further DW’s investigation revealed that the international network that coordinates the operations finds local donors through paid referrals, while in some cases, the donors are allegedly flown from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Pakistan.

During a press briefing yesterday in Nairobi, Mediheal lawyer Conrad Maloba denied the allegations saying,

“We are open to the audit processes and patients are ready to give their statements,” he said.