Judge dismisses 'kidney seller' Sh1.5m case against Mediheal

 Removal and transplant of the kidney were done at Mediheal Group of Hospitals on May 21, 2019. [File, Standard]

A man who allegedly sold his kidney will now live without his organ, and the money, after the High Court threw out his case.

In the case filed by activist Francis Owino, Ayub Kanyi Nyamu told the court he has only one kidney after he sold the other to one Gilbert Matindi Wachira. .

Kanyi further told the court that the removal and the transplant were done at Mediheal Group of Hospitals on May 21, 2019.

However, Justice Lawrence Mugambi on Thursday ruled that although there was a complaint before the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Kanyi never showed up to corroborate the claim.

In fact, the judge observed that he dodged investigators, and it is his father who recorded the statement.

Justice Mugambi was of the view that it is prohibited by the law to sell a human organ in Kenya. For this, he said, it was required for the man to avail himself for investigations, which he did not.

The judge was of the view that the court could not find fault with the DCI as it was willing to investigate the incident.

“The petitioner has not demonstrated by way of evidence that there was deliberate failure by the DCI to investigate the matter. On the contrary, it is the petitioner who has been dodging the DCI, which has made it impossible to investigate the issue,” Mugambi said, adding that they could not point an accusing finger at the investigative agency while not showing bad faith or intimidation.

The contention that was before the court was whether Kanyi donated his kidney or sold it at Sh1.5 million, the amount of money he was demanding from Mediheal.

At the same time, the donor and the hospital did not agree on the names of the recipient.

Now, two sides to the story emerged.

On one hand, Kanyi claimed that his kidney was for sale and he had agreed with the hospital that he would get Sh1.5 million upon the transplant.

Mediheal admitted that it conducted the transplant.

However, it disputed that the kidney went to Matindi. Instead, the medical facility stated that the kidney went to Gilbert Kariuki Gicheru, a cousin of Kanyi.

It was a donation

, Mediheal said.

“It is true that the interested party (Kanyi) intimated to the respondent (Mediheal)  that Gilbert Kariuki Gicheru who was the patient in need of a kidney then, was his cousin and so he wanted to help him. It is also true that after the tests were done, he was successfully determined as a healthy voluntary kidney donor as the health regulations dictate,” said Mediheal’s Medical Director Maryline Lang’at, adding:

“It was also true that he was admitted on May 21, 2019 and the surgery to harvest the kidney was successfully done as he fully recovered and was discharged from the hospital on June 7, 2019.”

In his case, Kanyi alleged that he went to the hospital at Parklands; tests were done, was admitted at the facility’s Eldoret Branch and discharged on June 7, 2019.

He further alleged that all this was out of a mutual agreement that his removed kidney’s price was Sh 1.5 million, which was allegedly to be paid immediately upon transferring it on the recipient.

“The petitioner states that the purchase of Mr Ayub’s kidney was fixed at Sh 1.5 million which amount he was promptly to be paid immediately upon transplanting it to the respondent’s patient. The respondent unlawfully and without any colour of right removed one of the interested party’s kidneys, which was thereafter transplanted on one of the respondent’s patient, one Gilbert Matindi Wachira,” the court heard.

The battle between Kanyi and Mediheal also involved the DCI. He wanted the court to order sleuths to investigate the alleged sale deal.