Plateau NMA investigates medical doctor over alleged organ harvesting

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Plateau NMA investigates medical doctor over alleged organ harvesting

The Plateau state chapter of Nigerian Medical Association, on Thursday, said it is investigating a medical doctor alleged to have harvested a woman’s kidney while attending to her in his clinic in Jos, the state capital.

The state NMA chairman, Dr. Bapigaan Audu, disclosed this on Thursday, in an interview with The PUNCH.

Audu said the association would not shield the medical practitioner identified as Dr. Noah Kekere, from prosecution and sanction if found guilty.

“I have been receiving several phone calls about a practising medical doctor in Jos, said to have removed a patient’s organ in his clinic. As an association, we don’t condone that kind of unethical practice. So, we have started an investigation to find out the truth about the issue and what actually happened. We will let you know the outcome of our findings.” The chairman stated

The PUNCH reports that a businessman in Jos, Plateau State, Alhaji Kamal had accused the medical doctor of harvesting one of his wife’s kidneys and subjecting the woman to chronic pain in the last five years.

Kamal explained that his wife, Kehinde, sometime in 2018, complained of stomach ache and was rushed to the doctor’s clinic located in the Nasarawa Gwom area of Jos North Local Government Area, where he diagnosed and concluded that she had a ruptured appendicitis and needed urgent surgery.

Kamal, a resident of the Rikkos area of Jos North said, “About eight years ago, my mum was sick, so she was directed to a hospital owned by one Dr. Noah Kekere at Yanshanu, Nasarawa Gwong community of Jos North local government area, and in the process of going to the see my mum in the hospital, I got acquainted with the doctor.

“When my wife fell sick in 2018, complaining of severe stomach pain, my mum encouraged us to take her there because my wife used to follow my mum to see the doctor when she was sick. As we got there, the doctor did a scan and said my wife had a ruptured appendicitis and must be operated on immediately, and he charged us N140,000.

“When I called some people to ask about the high bill as I planned to take her to JUTH, they advised we should just go ahead and save her life.

“The doctor asked how much I had and I said N80,000, apart from other charges for drugs. My wife was still complaining about the pain and the man kept collecting money from me.

“The day the doctor conducted the operation, he started the operation from 12 noon till 8 pm, and for the past five years, my wife kept complaining of severe stomach pains. I continued to take her to the same hospital because I did not want to change the doctor that started her treatment.

“As she continued to have pains, I decided to go to the Jos University Teaching Hospital a few days ago, where we discovered that one of my wife’s kidneys was removed.

“We reported the matter to the Police at Nasarawa Gwom and the doctor was arrested two days ago”

The Spokesman for the Plateau State Police Command, Alabo Alfred, did not pick his call when contacted by our Correspondent, but sources at the Command headquarters in Jos confirmed the arrest of the doctor.

“Yes, the suspect is in our custody and the case has been transferred to the Commissioner of Police to handle.” the source said