Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Health Department has decided to set up a team to probe the alleged involvement of doctors and other staff in a racket at the government medical college hospital in Thiruvananthapuram in illegal sale of artificial heart valves meant to be given free for patients belonging to the below poverty line category.
A team comprising physicians and officials would be appointed soon to look into the complaint, sources at the office of Health Minister P K Sreemathi said.
The racket came to light with the arrest of Premachandran of Neyyattinkara by police on Sunday on a complaint from two women who had come to the hospital for treatment.
Police said Premachandran was the main link of the racket and the details about others involved were being investigated. Police would seek the custody of Premachandran, remanded to judicial custody on Sunday, to conduct further probe, the sources said.
Police said the middlemen used to procure artificial heart valves from BPL patients registered with the hospital with the help of doctors or administrative staff and sell them to other needy persons at high rates.
The exact mode of operation of the racket would be known only after investigations, police added.