Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has warned of possible prosecution, deportation, and revocation of citizenship for Mediheal owner Swarup Mishra over allegations linking the facility to an organ trafficking scandal.
Speaking on Friday, August 1, Duale issued a stern warning to the former Kesses MP following the adoption of a report by an independent committee.
The visibly irritated CS noted that there was evidence of the hospital’s unlawful undertakings and that the government would not hesitate to take decisive action against Mishra.
Duale also appeared to suggest that Mishra was attempting to compromise investigations through intimidation and bribery, despite the former MP previously denying the hospital’s involvement in the scandal.
“In terms of young people, who had their kidneys removed, some of them have disappeared. We have evidence. Some of them were paid. You cannot come to our country 20 years ago, with a bag, you make money, you sell our organs, you become an MP, you develop a culture of impunity, then you come here and threaten us?” Duale noted.
“If it means us revoking that citizenship, because your citizenship is not by birth, we will revoke the citizenship, close your hospitals, and we will deport you,” he warned.
The scandal began after a special investigation by Deutsche Welle, German media outlet ZDF, and Der Spiegel revealed that Kenya was at the centre of an international organ trafficking syndicate.
According to the investigative piece, recipients pay up to $200,000 (Ksh25.9 million) for an organ transplant, with Mediheal, located in Eldoret, alleged to be the site where the transplant operations were conducted.
The investigation, which spanned from the hospital in Kenya to a shadowy agency attracting organ recipients from Germany, exposed how vulnerable people were exploited at both ends: the young, desperate for money, and the old, desperate for a life-saving organ.
In one case, a young Kenyan man was paid $4,000 (Ksh518,120) to donate his kidney, albeit under unscrupulous circumstances. While speaking to the media houses, the man revealed that 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.
The report by DW also disclosed that despite alarms raised by local health administrators in Kenya, no action had ever been taken against the hospital conducting the transplants. The owner, Mishra, was said to have powerful connections and significant influence among Kenya's elite.
Following the report, CS Duale revealed that action would be taken against the hospital and its owner, calling for an audit and investigation of the facility.
Mishra, who at the time was serving as Chair of the Kenya Biovax Institute, was dismissed from the role by President William Ruto.
Even so, the hospital has consistently denied any wrongdoing, maintaining that all organ operations were conducted within the law and with the full consent of donors.
