Visakhapatnam: Sraddha Hospital managing director Dr Potluri Pradeep finally surrendered before the police on Monday, after being in hiding since the day the kidney transplantation racket surfaced. He was produced before the court and sent to Central Prison on judicial remand till June 4.
Maharanipeta inspector E. Kesava Rao said that Dr Pradeep was trying his best to portray that he was innocent and unaware of the illegal kidney transplant cases at the hospital.
Several cases were framed against Dr Pradeep under AP Transplantation of Human Organs Act.
According to the doctor, Dr Pradeep is basically a psychiatrist and started Sraddha Hospital in 2010. Two years later, it was converted into a super-speciality hospital and several kidney transplantations were done.
The police earlier arrested Dr M. Manjunath, an Ayurvedic doctor from Bengaluru, who acted as the middleman, Dr D. Prabhakar, nephrologist of Sraddha Hospital and J. Kumar Varma Manager (Admin) of the hospital on May 9.
The incident came to light when a kidney donor lodged a complaint with Maharanipeta police station, accusing the hospital of cheating. A three-member committee investigated the kidney racket and submitted its report to the district collector.
The report said Sraddha Hospital had performed 68 kidney transplantation surgeries of which 29 were performed without due procedure being followed. The collector directed immediate closure of the hospital.
Moreover, the committee comprising district medical and health officer S. Tirupati Rao, was mandated to examine all cases of kidney transplantation done at private hospitals in the city over the last five years.
