The Rachakonda police arrested nine individuals for alleged illegal kidney transplantation operated under the management of Alakananda Hospital in Doctors Colony in Saroornagar. The arrested accused, identified as Dr. Siddamshetty Avinash, General Surgeon, Dr.Guntupally Sumanth, Managing Director of Alakananda Hospital, Ponnuswamy Pradeep and Suraj Mishra, both mediators and Narsagani Gopi, Ramavath Ravi, Sapavath Ravinder, Sapavath Harish and Podila Sai.
According to the police, Dr Avinash has completed his MBBS degree in China and pursued a Diploma in Surgery in Maharashtra's Pune. In 2022, he and his partners took over Janani Hospital, located on Madannapet Road, Saidabad. Due to a financial crisis, he was unable to run the hospital and planned to sell it.
Seeing this, a person named Laxman from Visakhapatnam approached Dr Avinash for conducting illegal kidney transplantations (KTP) at the hospital. Laxman pay 2.5 lakh for per kidney to Dr Avinash and also arranged doctors, assistants, donors, and recipients. Dr Avinash was only required to provide the operation theatre and post-operative care, said police.
On January 21, police and health officials raided Alakananda Hospital in Doctors Colony, uncovering unauthorized kidney transplant surgeries conducted over several months. Four individuals were found at the hospital, including two kidney donors from Tamil Nadu and two recipients from Karnataka, who had undergone illegal surgeries.
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Avinash, who, along with other accused, conducted nearly 20 illegal transplants at Alakananda Hospital since July 2024. The gang charged recipients Rs 55–60 lakh for a transplant, out of which Rs 5 lakh went to donors, while organisers and doctors pocketed the rest.
The organizers would identify donors—often poor individuals—from different states, offering them Rs 5 lakh for their kidneys. Blood samples of donors and recipients were matched, and surgeries were carried out clandestinely at hospitals in Hyderabad and other cities. The racket exploited loopholes in the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994, bypassing medical and ethical checks.