BJYM protest march to Kerala hospital mired in organ donation row turns violent

Kochi: A protest march taken out by the activists of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of BJP, to a leading private hospital here facing charges of violating organ donation norms turned violent on Monday.

The city-based VPS Lakeshore hospital is facing criminal proceedings for the offence of unauthorised removal of organs of an accident victim back in 2009.

However, it had recently denied the allegations against it of wrongfully declaring the patient as brain dead and harvesting his organs in violation of the law.

The Yuva Morcha activists marched to the hospital demanding action against the doctors there who were facing charges in the organ donation row.

Police resorted to lathicharge and had to use water canons to disperse the protesters who turned up in huge numbers and raised slogans against the hospital management. They were later arrested and forcibly removed from the area by the law enforcers.

At least 29 Yuva Morcha activists were arrested later in connection with the incident, police said.

A magisterial court in Ernakulam on May 29 decided to initiate criminal proceedings against Lakeshore Hospital, now known as VPS Lakeshore, and eight doctors, which included the neurosurgeons who examined the victim and the transplant team.

In the wake of the court order, VPS Lakeshore had issued a statement denying that the doctors had back then wrongfully issued a brain death certificate for the victim who had suffered severe head injuries in the 2009 accident.

The victim, Abin V J, was involved in an accident on November 29, 2009 when his motorcycle crashed into an electric post and he sustained head injuries.