Ex-MP Swarup Mishra denies Mediheal exported Kenyan kidneys

Mediheal Group of Hospitals founder Dr Swarup Mishra  has insisted that no Kenyan kidney ever left the country and all foreign patients arrived in Kenya with their own donors.

He spoke in regards to questionable kidney transplants by the hospital.

“All foreign transplant patients brought their own donors. No Kenyan organ has ever been exported. Not even one,” he said.

“The medical facility is not involved in donor selection, transaction, or any form of influence, pressure, bribing, or commercialization. We do not even suggest donors to patients.”

Dr Mishra was responding to a damning report by a government-appointed taskforce that investigated 476 kidney transplants conducted at Mediheal between 2018 and 2024.

The report accused the hospital of violating transplant regulations and recommended prosecution of Dr Mishra and three other senior doctors.

But Mishra defended the integrity of the procedures and insisted that all transplant surgeries at Mediheal followed the law and were authorised by the Ministry of Health.

“Eligible candidates for renal transplant include patients referred by relatives or friends, and in-house kidney patients from our hospital,” he explained.

“A complete workup is performed to confirm if a patient is a true candidate, because some cases might be reversible dialysis.”

He further noted that patients must bring their own donors, who then undergo rigorous medical screening alongside the recipients.

“Once brought by the patient, donors undergo a comprehensive workup to ensure compatibility,” Mishra said.

“This includes cross-matching, HLA typing, and gene mapping — which are essential to minimize or eliminate post-transplant rejection.”

He presented figures to support Mediheal’s performance: out of the 476 transplants, only 20 were rejected — far below the global average rejection rate of 20 per cent.

“Of the 20, seven were acute and 13 were chronic,” he said.

“Eight cases were successfully rescued, meaning only 12 transplants were ultimately rejected. We have not lost a single donor. All donors are alive.”

He also addressed transplant-related mortality.

“Patient mortality for kidney transplants at our facility is 8 out of 476 cases,” he said.

 “We define transplant-related mortality as death occurring within one month of surgery. Deaths occurring after two, three, or ten years are natural and unrelated to the transplant.”

Dr Mishra dismissed the taskforce report as malicious and lacking factual basis.

“This report is harmful to the integrity of our hospital. The claims are entirely unfounded and not supported by any credible evidence,” he said.

 “We have nothing to hide. We remain committed to ethical, safe, and world-class healthcare.”

He revealed that Mediheal had issued a legal demand to German broadcaster Deutsche Welle over what he termed false allegations in a documentary that prompted the taskforce probe.

“We will cooperate with all relevant authorities,” Dr Mishra said.

 “And if any wrongdoing is found, we are ready to face the consequences — but we reject the lies and defamation.”