Bihar: No Transplant for Sunita, 5 Months After Her Kidneys Were Allegedly Removed at Private Nursing Home

Patna: The hope of a much-needed kidney transplant is still a dream for Sunita Devi, a dalit woman, who has been battling for life after both her kidneys were allegedly removed at a private nursing home in Muzaffarpur District of Bihar about five months ago. Her health condition has deteriorated since the past two days and she urgently requires kidney transplant for survival, but the health authorities have so far failed to arrange a donor.

After Sunita’s kidneys were removed and stolen at a private nursing home in the name of a uterus removal operation in early September, the top brass of the health department had assured to provide her proper treatment, including kidney transplant. But she has been restlessly awaiting it for months on a bed in the government-run Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH) in Muzaffarpur, with health officials citing failure to arrange a donor.

Read Also:Bihar: Victim of Illegal Kidney Removal Seeks a Transplant for Survival

On Thursday, Sunita developed measles on her body and was shifted to an isolation ward from the ICU in view of the threat of infecting other patients. Her family has blamed “non seriousness” of officials of the health department for the delay in kidney transplant.

Aklu Ram, Sunita’s husband, said till Wednesday she was undergoing regular dialysis at SKMCH but after she got measles, her dialysis was not done on Thursday and she was put on oxygen due to breathlessness. On Friday, after her condition deteriorated, a dialysis was done.

”As we are poor, who will listen and care for us? Kidney transplant appears as something impossible because officials are not serious about arranging a donor for it. Till date, no serious effort has been made by officials for kidney transplant to save my wife’s life.If the department was serious, five months is a long duration to arrange a donor. We are losing hope day by day”, Ram, a landless farm labourer, told NewsClick.

Read Also: Bihar Dalit Woman Critical After Removal of Kidneys at Private Clinic

Ram said last December he approached SKMCH doctors and offer to donate his kidney to his wife, but he was informed that his kidney was a mismatch. “It was a big disappointment for us because department officials were citing no arrangement of a donor”.

According to Ram, since September 2022, he and his children were parked in SKMCH, but late last month, he sent his children back home as it was difficult to manage them and take care of Sunita. “I met doctors treating her and SKMCH superintendent BS Jha and sought permission to take Sunita back to our village as there was no chance of a likely donor. If she has to undergo dialysis, as in the last few months, I will bring her when required, and in case a donor is arranged by the department, she could be admitted, but the doctors and Jha refused to give me permission and warned us of the great risk,” he added.

When asked, SKMCH superintendent Jha told NewsClick that “our job is not to arrange a donor. Our main focus and concern is proper treatment, including regular dialysis. We have been taking special care of her and monitoring her condition and have informed the department to arrange a kidney for her transplant. It is for her family to arrange a donor.”

A senior health department official in Patna also reiterated that “we are trying for her kidney transplant but it all depends on a donor being arranged.”

Ironically, days after Sunita’s kidneys were removed and it came to light, an initial probe by the police had revealed that there was no operation theatre in the said private clinic, which also lacked basic facilities. In violation of fundamental medical ethics, Subhakant Clinic in rural Muzaffarpur was conducting surgeries without official approval from the government agency, it was alleged.

According to the police, the clinic neither had a registration number nor were the degrees of its doctors displayed on a board. Locals alleged that the clinic was run by self-proclaimed doctors. The doctors are absconding, and the clinic is shut, the police said.

Ram recalled that Sunita was rushed to Subhakant Clinic in early September following stomach pain. After examining her and conducting an ultrasound, doctors asked the family to deposit money immediately and admit her for a uterus removal operation. But hours after the operation, her health deteriorated, her body swelled, and she complained of uneasiness and extreme weakness. Sensing trouble, a doctor at the clinic advised Ram to take her to Patna for better treatment.

However, the family was shocked when doctors of the government-run Patna Medical College and Hospital (PMCH) informed them that both her kidneys had been removed and she needed urgent treatment.

Later his wife was admitted to SKMCH in Muzaffarpur, where doctors again conducted tests and confirmed that both her kidneys were removed, after that she was shifted to Patna-based Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences and soon sent back to SKMCH, where her regular dialysis is going on.

Police had lodged a case against the clinic's doctors, including the owner Pawan Kumar, at Bariyarpur Police Station, based on the statement of Sunita's mother, Tetri Devi. The FIR was lodged under the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994, and the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

A Special Investigative Team has been constituted to arrest absconding owners cum self-claimed doctors of the clinic.

Police in last November arrested ‘absconding’ Pawan Kumar – a self-proclaimed doctor and owner of a private nursing home, the main accused for removing Sunita’s kidneys.