Monday, April 5, 2010

Iraqi medical doctors implicated in plundering body organs

Iraqi police have arrested several people among them three doctors on charges of plundering body organs in the restive northern city of Mosul.

The victims whose organs were plundered were first kidnapped and then brought to a government hospital where their kidneys were extracted under duress.

Hospital director Raad al-Wazan affirmed that nine people were brought to Mosul’s General Hospital where they were operated clandestinely and their kidneys removed.

“The surgical operations were not proper and accurate,” Wazan said.

Medical sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, say many more abducted persons might have been subjected to such operations.

They did not say how the victims were brought to the hospital but affirmed that three doctors were involved in the operations.

Police say they learned about the operations after arresting a gang accused of abducting Iraqis for ransom and body organ plundering.

The extracted kidneys were given to patients in the same hospital for massive money, the police say.

Wazan admitted the death of an 11-year old boy in the hospital following an operation in which his kidney was removed.

“The boy suffered from bleeding which could not be stopped and died,” he said.

The police say several hospitals in the city might be involved and the number of victims could soar.

http://www.azzaman.com/english/index.asp?fname=news/2010-04-04/kurd.htm