Top Hospital 'Did 80 Illegal Kidney Ops'

December 11, 2003

By Tania Broughton

The Durban-based "co-ordinator" of a syndicate trading in human kidneys has implicated senior St Augustine's surgeons and transplant clinic staffin the scandal, saying "they must have known or suspected" that many of the operations were motivated by money.

As the net closes on those involved in the illicit deals, Roderick Frank Kimberley, 58, of Glenmore, Durban, on Wednesday pleaded guilty to his role in 38 illegal kidney transplant operations which were performed at the private hospital in the past two years.

However, according to his version before Magistrate Melanie de Jager in the Durban Magistrate's Court, about 80 illegal transplant operations were done at the hospital during this time.

In his guilty plea - drawn up in terms of plea bargaining legislation - Kimberley names organ transplant clinic staff Lindy Dickson and Melanie Azor and Dr Jeff Kallmeyer and Professor AA Haffejee.

He says, as the number of kidney transplants at the hospital increased to more than 80 over two years, these people "must have known, alternatively suspected that the donor/recipient transaction was motivated by money".

He was given a six-year suspended sentence and fined R250 000.

The lid came off the international scandal with the arrest last week of 11 Brazilians - allegedly the runners hired by the syndicate to find suitable donors - and two men in Durban, one of whom was an Israeli who had just received a kidney in a transplant operation. The recipient, Agania Robel, also pleaded guilty to charges under the Human Tissues Act last week, saying he had paid $45 000 (about R289 404) for his kidney. It had been donated by Brazilian Rogerio Bozzera da Silver, who had been paid $6 000 (about R38 587) for it.

Kimberley was arrested later in the week.

In his written plea on Wednesday, he said he had lost his photographic business about five years ago and was in dire financial straits.

Even before this, he used to visit sick members of his (Jewish) community, seeing them at St Augustine's Hospital, running errands and giving them comfort.

About two years ago, he had been approached by an Israeli called Ilan Perry who informed him that he oversaw kidney transplant operations.

Kimberley said he agreed to look after the recipients and donors for a fee of R500 a month.

After being involved for about a month, he realised that it was much more time-consuming than he had originally envisaged and renegotiated a fee of R2 000 a transplant with Perry.

Kimberley said he would receive a call from Perry in Israel telling him about arrival times of the donors and recipients and he would fetch them from the airport and take them to a beachfront hotel.

He would then contact Dickson or Azor at St Augustine's transplant clinic to set up times for the tests.

"Generally, the patients would arrive on a Monday morning for a transplant on Friday."

"On Tuesday they would have dialysis, blood samples would be drawn for assessment by the Natal Blood Transfusion Service and pre-admission forms would be filled."

"On Wednesday there was usually a meeting with Dr Kallmeyer, a nephrologist, and an assessment done by the specialist surgeon, Prof Haffejee."

"On Thursday, the recipient would be admitted to the hospital and all the consent forms filled in and witnessed."

"On Friday morning, the operations would be done, lasting about two hours for the donor and a further one hour for the recipient."

Kimberley said one of the requirements was the completion of consent forms by both donor and recipient and he was aware that they had lied, saying they were blood or family-related.

He was also aware that the donors had lied by saying no money had changed hands when, in fact, it was known that with each kidney transplant procedure, the donor was paid for the kidney.

In 38 operations in which Kimberley was involved, all the recipients were Israelis and the donors were Brazilians or Israelis.

Kimberley, a father of three young children, said he was remorseful for his actions, but had succumbed to temptation because of his dire financial situation. He undertook to assist fully with the continuing police investigation.

Anyone with any information regarding illegal human organ trading in South Africa should contact Inspector Krish Chetty, on 031 332 2534 or Captain Louis Helberg on 082 567 4183.

Copyright © 2003 Independent Online.

This article posted January 8, 2004.