The entrance to Mediheal Hospital and Fertility Centre in Eldoret town, Uasin Gishu County on June 20, 2022.
An analysis of donors for 382 kidney transplants carried out at Mediheal hospital over six years shows majority – 75 per cent – have a background from Mountain, Northern and Rift regions.
And official data on the surgeries done between November 28, 2018 and March 7, 2024, also shows among foreigners, Israelis (37) accounted for the most recipients followed by DRC (8), Uganda (8), Burundi (6), South Sudan (2) and one from Japan.
People with names with a background of Mt Kenya were the most donors of kidneys – 103, a review of 80 pages of medical records, patient forms and affidavits obtained by Nation shows.
Those with names with a background of Northern Kenya (97) and Rift Valley (86) were also among the most donors of the organs. Other donors had a background of Nyanza (39), Eastern (26), Coast (18) and Western (9).
For four kidneys transplanted in the same period, it is not possible to establish their origin as only first names are in the report.
According to the documents, the average cost – base price – of a transplant procedure is Sh2 million.
“The package includes pre-tax work up for both the recipient and the donor, ten days of admission for the recipient including the surgical/medical charges, four- day admission as well as surgical and medical charges for the donor,” Mediheal explains in the documents issued to the patients.
This package does not include any pretax treatment protocols in case of infections, vaccinations, post tax problems requiring prolonged stay, ventilator support, delayed graft function requiring dialysis, acute rejection of the transplanted kidney by one’s body requiring anti-rejection treatment, plasma exchange requirements and treatment for sepsis that requires higher antibiotics.
“These additional treatment protocols if found necessary may cost another Sh300,000-Sh800,000 to be treated as back up expenses. You may have to spend about Sh400,000-Sh500,000 for immunosuppressive medications and lab tests during the first post-tax year and about Sh150,000-Sh250,000 per year for life long treatment,” the health facility explains.
“Also have a backup expense of another Sh500,000 for any possible infections/rejections that might occur. The total expense for the first year might extend up to Sh3 million,” Mediheal states, while warning that transplant medications have to be taken lifelong.
If one stops medication, the kidney will be rejected and the patient will have to go back to dialysis.
Mediheal’s consultant nephrologist, Dr A S Murthy, while breaking down guidelines for long term evaluation of kidney recipients, notes that they will require mandatory check of blood pressure, blood glucose, blood count, urine examination, graft function and tracrolimus tests after every two months.
The investigation of suspected organs trafficking was triggered by a July 20, 2023, letter by Professor Elmi Muller, the President of the Transplantation Society (TTS) and Dr Thomas Müller, the Co-chair of the Declaration of Istanbul Custodian Group (DICG).
They wrote to Dr Maurice Wakabubwi, then acting CEO of the Kenya Tissue and Transplant Authority in the Kenyan ministry of Health. The Kenya Tissue and Transplant Authority has since been renamed the Kenya Blood Transfusion and Transplant Service (KBTTS).
The agencies that govern global transplantation became suspicious about Israeli patients returning home after kidney transplants in Kenya indicated they had received organs from donors who seemed fictitious.
“We would like to bring your attention to new information we have received concerning Israeli patients returning to their home country after receiving transplants in Kenya. It appears that an organized syndicate has successfully evaded regulations in Kenya. As is often the case with organ trafficking, there is a lack of substantial information regarding the relationship between the organ provider and the recipient,” reads the letter addressed to Dr Wakabubwi.
The two agencies indicated they believed that the description of the organ provider as ‘nephew ‘is clearly fictitious and that there would be no valid reason for the transplant not to take place in Israel if this were true.
“Our colleagues in Israel have gathered evidence indicating that several kidney transplants involving trafficked foreign kidney donors have taken place in Eldoret especially at a clinic called Mediheal. The doctors involved are allegedly of Indian origin, while the organs are being provided by individuals from Central Asia,” the letter stated as the foreign agencies offered to assist Kenya investigate the case.
In October, the same year, Dr Wakabubwi, the acting CEO of KBTTS would write to the Secretary of Administration at the State Department for Medical services to request for Sh1.3 million to investigate the claims against the hospital.
“Mediheal was approved as a kidney transplant centre by the health ministry on 19th November 2018, the allegations if proven true could place the country as an organ trafficking hub negating our good standing in this field within the region. The purpose of this letter is to request for your approval of the fact-finding mission with a budget of Sh1,285,800,” he wrote.
This led to the appointment of a 12-member committee which investigated 372 kidney transplant conducted by Mediheal since 2018.
However, the report, which had never been made public for over one year until an expose by Nation last Monday, has imploded in controversy amid allegations the findings were doctored.
Dr Philip Cheptinga, a member of the committee, has since claimed the report was doctored to downplay the claims against the hospital.
“The orders came from above, from the health ministry itself and we were told to comply. Three of us who were not willing to do so actually walked away from the final stages of putting together what we had established at Mediheal during our fact-finding mission,” Dr Cheptinga told Nation.
Health Cabinet Secretary Aden Duale has since suspended Dr Wakabubwi and Dr Everlyne Chege, who led the 12-member committee that investigated the hospital in 2023, pending a fresh investigation.
The CS has appointed an independent expert committee to undertake a full audit of kidney transplant services across all Mediheal facilities over the past five years.
The committee will review governance structures, clinical practices, ethical compliance, and patient safety protocols, and is expected to submit its report within 90 days.
In an interview with Nation last week, Dr Swarup Mishra, the chair of Mediheal, defended the hospital, saying it does not deal in any organ trafficking.
“We at Mediheal have not done any selection of any donor and have not paid them for a kidney,” Dr Mishra told Nation.
“None of these things they are saying happened at Mediheal. We are waiting for the government to develop a legal framework that will aid us do proper donor selection and the health ministry is currently working on it,” Dr Mishra said.
“Foreign recipients come here after being given Visas by their government and permits by the Kenyan government, it has nothing to do with Dr Mishra,” he added.
llidigu@ke.nationmedia.com
