Not off the hook: Did Parliament sanitise Mishra in Mediheal organ trafficking scandal?

A battle of conscience is raging between Parliament and the Ministry of Health over rot in the country’s organ donation and transplant system.

At its centre is Dr Swarup Mishra, chairman of Mediheal Group of Hospitals, and a deeply incriminating report that was quietly watered down before being presented to the public. 

The Standard has obtained and analysed two documents: the Independent Investigative Committee on Tissue and Organ Transplant Services (IICTOTS) report, a comprehensive, 338-page audit submitted to the Ministry of Health in July 2025, and the final Parliamentary Departmental Committee on Health report, tabled on April 15, 2026. 

In the two documents, Parliament and the Ministry of Health offer dramatically opposed versions of the same dark report. The MoH report is a forensic audit that found evidence of “systematic exploitation,” “organised trafficking networks,” and documentation presenting evidence of wrongdoing. 

On the other hand, the final report of the National Assembly Departmental Committee on Health concluded that “the Committee did not find evidence linking the hospital to any illegalities,” and recommended all sanctions on Mediheal be lifted. 

The IICTOTS report reads like a horror show, with the testimony of Dr AM, the senior nephrologist at Mediheal’s kidney transplant programme, stating: “Dr AM highlighted the absence of multidisciplinary team meetings, hospital ethics committee teams, quality management teams or meetings, and formal audit meetings with documented minutes, repeatedly describing himself as running a ‘one-man show.’ It is essential to recognise that transplants are a ‘team sport’ and require many different specialities for good outcomes. This raises serious concerns about his solo practice on very high-risk patients.” 

The nephrologist, the IICTOTS investigators noted, was not a member of the Kenya Renal Association. He personally conducted counselling for both donors and recipients, a clear conflict of interest and potential for bias and patient coercion. 

He did not seek proof of the relationship between donor and recipient, claiming there is no law mandating it. 
His follow‑up records were kept on a personal Excel file on his laptop, accessible only to himself, raising serious concerns about continuity of care and data security. 

According to investigators, Mediheal, Kenya’s busiest kidney‑transplant programme, was being run by a single doctor, with no meaningful peer review, no ethics oversight, and no independent donor advocacy. 

Parliamentary Committee’s report, published nearly a year later, presented a different portrait. It quoted Dr Mishra’s own testimony: “Dr Mishra stated that Mediheal Hospital had a comprehensive transplant infrastructure aligned with international standards, including nephrology and urology outpatient units, renal anaesthesia services, 12 renal ICU beds, 7 HDU beds, and private wards for all post-ICU care to ensure infection control and patient privacy.”  

The “comprehensive infrastructure” claimed by Mishra was not rebutted in the MPs’ findings. The ‘one‑man show’ was not mentioned. The absence of a functional multidisciplinary team was not flagged, and the conflict of interest in the nephrologist’s dual role as counsellor was not investigated. 

Where the IICTOTS saw a reckless and isolated practitioner, the MPs saw a well‑equipped tertiary hospital, and where IICTOTS identified a systemic failure of clinical governance, the MPs saw a facility ready for business. 

Another glaring atrocity in the report states that after examining 407 kidney‑donation affidavits, the IICTOTS discovered fraud. 

“The most alarming finding from this dataset is the complete absence of proper legal documentation across all 407 cases examined. Every single affidavit lacks either the donor’s signature or the affidavit date, meaning that not one case meets basic legal documentation standards. This universal failure undermines the legal validity of the entire organ donation program and raises immediate questions about regulatory oversight and compliance mechanisms,” reads the report. 

The IICTOTS found that critical fields such as gender, signatures, and relationship information were missing across most affidavits. The documents were not available in the patient files at the time of submission to the committee and arrived three weeks late. Local Kenyan affidavits were signed on the day of the surgery, indicating patient pressure and potential coercion. 

Further, all legal verifications for both local and international patients were handled by the same lawyer, who was affiliated with Mediheal Hospital, which clearly poses a conflict of interest.  The Parliamentary Committee’s response to this is silence. Nowhere in the MPs’ findings does one find anything that IICTOS reported raising. Instead, the MPs offered a mild observation, stating: 

“The Committee noted concerns regarding the legality and ethical propriety of these transplant procedures as raised by multiple stakeholders, including a Member of Parliament, affected individuals and their families, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital and the Ministry of Health’s Independent Investigative Committee on Tissue and Organ Transplant Services.” 

Another explosive piece of evidence in the IICTOTS report is the international flows of donors and recipients. The forensic analysis of 452 donors and 447 recipients revealed what investigators called concerning demographic and nationality trends. 

“The donor pool was male-dominated (77.21 per cent), with Kenyan men forming the largest group (241 individuals, 54 per cent of all donors). By contrast, women comprised only 13.5 per cent of the donor population. Among Israeli recipients, men outnumbered women by more than 6:1, while the Azerbaijani donor pool was 88 per cent male, raising suspicions of targeted recruitment. Alarmingly, 25 Azerbaijani donors were matched with Israeli recipients, suggesting possible organised cross-border trafficking.”  

The investigators also noted that “the Azerbaijani donor population shows the most extreme gender imbalance, with 43 male donors versus only 7 female donors, representing an 88 per cent male majority. This pattern indicates that Azerbaijani men are being systematically recruited as organ donors for transplantation services elsewhere.”  

The pattern was that poor men from Azerbaijan donating kidneys to wealthier men in Israel, with minimal flow in the opposite direction, fits the classic profile of organised organ trafficking. 

The Ministry’s report also noted the role of a mysterious “online freelancer” (identified as IY) who acted as the designated next of kin for most international patients.  The IICTOTS investigators wrote: “The freelancer was the designated next of kin for most international patients (donors and recipients), raising suspicion on his full scope of function at Mediheal Hospital.” 

Yet the Parliamentary Committee, after reviewing the same evidence, produced a conclusion that directly contradicts the data, saying, 

“The Committee did not find evidence linking the foreign nationals to any illegalities under the existing legal framework governing transplant services in the country, that is, The Health Act, Cap 241 and the Human Tissue Act, Cap. 252.” 

The MPs went further, adding a sentence  intended to humanise Dr Mishra, stating, “Further, the Committee observed that Mediheal Group of hospitals employed 2300 Kenyan citizens and hence contributes significantly to the well-being of thousands of families and their dependents.”  

The IICTOTS investigators discovered that Mediheal’s vaunted ethics committee was a fiction. 

“The hospital ethics committee ceased functioning in 2022, and a potential conflict of interest was noted as the primary physician conducted both counselling and assessment without ethics oversight. Additional concerns arose from ethics committee documents dated before 2020, even though actual committee meetings began in October 2018. Specifically, documents dated 2019 were found to contain committee stamps and signatures despite reports that the committee only became operational in 2020. There was no documentation available for 2023-2025.”  

The report further reads, “A marketing coordinator with no medical background assigned the additional role of coordinator/social worker on the ethics committee for transplant documentation. She confirmed that there was a retrospective signing of documentation to fulfil possible regulatory requirements and a lack of procedural compliance. In some cases, SC signed ethics committee documentation for international patients without directly interacting with them.” 

The committee meetings, when they occurred, were “a standard template composed of an identification checklist and a standard list of committee members composed of doctors and hospital administration, which presents a conflict of interest as the directors and hospital administrators take away the opportunity to make objective decisions.” 

The Parliamentary Committee’s report contains no mention of backdated documents or mention of the marketing coordinator signing ethics forms for patients she never met, and no mention of a committee that went silent for three years.  

Instead, the MPs observed, “The Committee noted that the allegations raised against the facility are under active investigation by the relevant agencies under the auspices of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations.”  

The Parliamentary Committee heard in detail the testimony of young Kenyans who had been recruited into the kidney trade. Those testimonies are recorded in the MPs’ own report, yet the final conclusions seem to have been written as if they never happened. 

Amon Kipruto Melly, then 23, a casual labourer, was approached by a neighbour named Richard Limo with an offer of Sh1.2 million for his kidney. He testified on oath before the Committee on 29th August 2025: 

“He initially sought clarification regarding the identity of the recipient, but was informed that he would not be given those details. He met the recipient at the hospital in Eldoret, but they were instructed not to communicate. He identified the recipient as ‘Mohammed,’ whom he described as being of Somali origin.” 

After the surgery in June 2024, Amon received Sh600,000 in two instalments, half of what he was promised. He developed severe pain, dizziness and nausea, and was taken by relatives to Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital. 
He told the MPs he had not received structured post‑operative care guidance at discharge. Today, he lives with physical limitations and is “unable to perform certain forms of manual labour.” 

Amon’s mother, Leah Chepkorir, broke down before the committee. She had believed her son was in Uganda working as a farmhand. She only discovered the truth when she found him weak, having lost significant weight. She reported the matter to Langas Police Station, but “there had been no substantive feedback to her regarding the outcome of investigations.” 

Emmanuel Kipkosgei, then 22, was lured by two friends, Nabil and Limo. He was taken to Elgon View, where approximately 13 young men were gathered. 

“They were addressed by a doctor whose name he could not recall, and later by Mishra, who allegedly gave each of them Sh50,000. He stated that he was assigned the name ‘Abdisimit Ibrahim Hussein.’” 

Emmanuel’s Kenyan ID was confiscated, and he was issued an alien ID bearing a Somali name. He underwent surgery at Mediheal Hospital, was admitted at midnight and discharged the same day. He received Sh400,000 in cash, less than half the amount promised. He was instructed, “to keep the matter confidential and was warned against disclosing details.” 

Emmanuel’s mother, Sarah Kirwa, testified that after reporting the matter to Simat Police Station, her son was arrested and interrogated. She claimed police officers asked for money to secure his release, and that she had to withdraw from her bank account. In one instance, she said, “Two police officers visited her residence, arrested Emmanuel, and later informed her that they had taken him to the hospital and would take him back home.” 

 Titus Terigin, Chairman of the North Rift Kidney Patients Welfare Association, told the Committee that approximately 20 young men had approached his association for counselling and assistance.

He said some donors reported being promised substantial sums of money, including figures of up to Sh2 million, but alleged that payments were either reduced or not made at all. 

Yet the same MPs’ final recommendations contain no call for the prosecution of the recruiters, the brokers, or the doctors who performed midnight surgeries on young men who had been stripped of their identities.  

Instead, the Committee’s general recommendation appearing at the very end of its report reads, 
“Any Sanctions placed on the Mediheal Group of hospitals, St Luke’s Orthopaedic and Trauma Hospital and Oak Tree Centre for Kidney and Chronic Disease, including suspension of licences, be lifted, except licences related to organ transplant.” 

The IICTOTS was clear about what should happen, and recommendations included, “All persons and/or medical practitioners who illegally removed an organ from a human being for transplantation in another human being or who charged a fee for a human organ should be investigated and prosecuted in accordance with section 84 of the Health Act. All persons suspected to be engaged in trafficking in persons for the removal of organs should be investigated and prosecuted in criminal proceedings in accordance with section 10 of the Counter-Trafficking In Persons Act and any other relevant laws.”  

The  IICTOTS called for the investigation of Dr Swarup M. Mishra (Chairman and Director), Dr A S Murthy (nephrologist), Dr Sananda Bag (urologist/transplant surgeon) and Dr Vijay Kumar (anaesthesiologist) “for their potential criminal involvement in organ trafficking and for possible violations of national transplant laws and ethical standards.” 

The IICTOTS also recommended that the Cabinet Secretary “may continue to suspend Mediheal Hospital until all investigations are concluded. KMPDC should be investigated for potential regulatory failure and possible criminal collusion due to their repeated inaction on reports of wrongdoing at Mediheal Hospital.” 

The Parliamentary Committee rejected all of this and recommended  that sanctions on Mediheal be lifted, stating, “Any sanctions placed on the Mediheal Group of hospitals, including suspension of licences, be lifted, except licenses related to organ transplant.”  

The Law Society of Kenya (LSK), in a written memorandum to the Committee, had warned that the Health Act’s provisions against organ commercialisation were not sufficient. 

LSK noted that the fees charged for kidney transplants far exceeded the Sh360,000 maximum set by the 2016 Rules, raising the question: “Are medical practitioners working in facilities across the country (including Mediheal) charging a maximum of Sh360,000, per the 2016 Rules?” 

 LSK also argued that the Kenya Tissue and Transplant Authority (KTTA) does not appear to place any focus on organ and tissue transplants and that its inadequate oversight has created a lacuna in the conduct of organ and tissue transplant services. 

The Kenya Renal Association (KRA), in its own submission, accused Mediheal of organ commercialisation by paying for organs from young men from Uasin Gishu and surrounding counties and selling organs to patients, local and international.

The association noted that the only illegality in current law is that of selling or buying organs, and that current legislation focuses on and punishes the donor and the recipient, both of whom are actually victims. 

The Association also revealed that they had first written to the Kenya Medical Practitioners and Dentists Council (KMPDC) on 21st June 2022, raising concerns about young men donating kidneys in exchange for money. “The response was lacklustre at best,” they wrote. Later attempts to involve the DCI did not progress. 

The Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) ’s Transnational Crime Unit was already investigating four criminal files as of the time of the IICTOTS report. The IICTOTS noted that witnesses should be directed towards the witness protection agency due to reports of threats and intimidation. 

When reached for comment, Dr James Nyikal, the parliamentary committee on health chairman, did not reply to messages or pick up calls. His deputy, Dr Robert Pukose, also refused to comment on the matter.  

Mishra also refused to speak about the matter and referred The Standard to his lawyer Conrad Maloba. Once again, Kenya’s Parliament had a choice to stand with its citizens or to protect a billionaire, but it chose the billionaire.