Organ harvesting: Ugandan Police investigates missing kidney in Kampala hospital

Muhammad Kabanda is a resident of Gangu village on the outskirts of Kampala

Police in Kampala are investigating a case in which a 25-year-old petty trader in Owino market (St Balikudembe Market) has accused Old Kampala Hospital of harvesting one of his kidneys without his knowledge after he sought surgical operation at the health facility.

Muhammad Kabanda, a resident of Gangu village on the outskirts of Kampala is said to have visited the said health facility on September 24, 2022 following a boda boda accident along Lukuli road.

Monitor.co.ug, a local media outlet quoted the hospital records as showing that the victim had sustained severe head injuries.

Mr Kabanda says he was asked to pay Shs3.35 million for the head operation and an additional Shs2 million for medication.

“But when the operation was done I was shocked to discover that I had a fresh incision on the left hand side of my abdomen which could not be satisfactorily explained by the doctors at the facility or their management. I went and did two ultra sound scans; one at Malcom and the second one at Mulago national referral hospital and the reports of radiologists confirmed that my left kidney had been extracted. A CT Scan was also conducted at Mengo Hospital and posted the same results,” narrated Mr Kabanda as he displayed his healing wound and scan results before journalists in Kampala on Tuesday.

Kampala Metropolitan police spokesperson, Mr Patrick Onyango said they summoned the hospital administration to record a statement.

“They (hospital administration) are yet to respond to our summons. However, we are now waiting for the police surgeon to also give us their findings,” Mr Ongango said on Tuesday.

However, the hospital administration said they could not comment on the case citing doctor-patient privilege.

“If that person went to police then it’s under investigation. And since it’s a medical issue, it needs that person to consent for us to give you any information regarding that issue,” Old Kampala Hospital acting medical director, Dr Faisal Kazibw said Tuesday.

Kampala Lord Mayor, Erias Lukwago who is also Mr Kabanda’s lawyer said cases of illegal kidney harvest in Uganda have spiked.

“There are other cases of similar nature we’re pursuing involving a highly connected racket and it’s a cause for worry,” Mr Lukwago said.

Background

Organ harvesting schemes with an intent to make money are not a new phenomenon. This latest claim of kidney extraction comes at a time when a joint team of investigators from security agencies and immigration is probing the increasing reports of illegal harvesting of internal organs of Ugandan domestic workers. The team is comprised of detectives from the forensic department, Criminal Investigations Directorate (CID) and Interpol. Others include cross-border experts from the immigration department.

There are at least fives cases of unlawful organ transplantations involving four Ugandan women whose organs were allegedly removed when they went to work as housemaids in Oman and Saudi Arabia.

The other is a case involving Mubende regional referral hospital where unscrupulous medics are said to have extracted a kidney from an unsuspecting expectant mother.