From JPen1@queenbee.net  Mon Sep 29 17:42:13 1997

Dear Dave,

     This article appeared in the Volume 9, Number 12, April 4,1997
issue of Indian Skeptic. I am retypeing it so that others are aware of
this horrific incident.  I sent you all the documents that support this
article.  Unfortunately the pictures are terrible photocopies.  If I can
get true photografic copies from Premanand I will send them.  I am look
forward to seeing this article with the supporting documnts up on the
web.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Sincerely,

Joseph M. Pena


   KIDNEY ROBBERY IN SAI BABA SUPER-SPECIALTY HOSPITAL AT PUTTAPARTHI 

   On recieving a news paper clipping on the kidney racket in Satya Sai
Baba's Super-specialty Hospital in Puttaparthi we contacted the Skeptic
group in Maharashtra and they gave me thwe address of Ramkumar
Raiwadikar who would help me to get the photo-copies of all the records
on the kidney that was stolen.  I was not surprised when my post card to
Ramkumar came back " as not known" so also the issue of Indian Skeptic
wherein I had published the English version of the Marathi article by
Ramkumar.

   As I was to visit Pune for the State Conference of the Maharashtra
Andha Shraddha Nirmulan Samithi from 21st to 23rd February 1997, I asked
my friend in Pune to get Ramkumar and balaji__the kidney doner to come
to Pune with all the records.  On 21st I met Ramkumar and showed him the
returned post card and the journal with inscription "Not Known" .  I
found that the address was correct and he agreed to send me the post
which he had recieved in December 1996 so that action may be taken
against the postal department for returning the post falsely.

  The hospital records of the kidney transplantation are published on
pages 28 to 33 and photographs of the post mortem done on the dead body
of Trimbakbaba Rao on pages 24 to 27,29 & 34.  The two photographs on
cover page shows the 2 original kidneys of Trimbakbaba Rao in tact.

   The Discharge Summary of Balaji states thet he is the Renal doner to
his father, IVP prompt concentration and excretion of contrast by both
kidneys, normal size shape and position.  That left doner nephrectomy
done under G.A.  Balaji was also given a Medical Certificate by the Sai
Baba Hospital as follows:

   " This is to certify that Mr. Balaji S/O. Mr. Triambakababa Rao
donated one of his kidneys to his father.  He is advised to absent from
heavy manual work for three months. "

   The discharge Summary given to Trimbakbaba Rao it is stated that the
patient underwent renal transplant but as the transplant kidney did not
function he was taken up for dialysis.  They also allege to have done an
Isotop scan and there was no perforation to transplant kidney.  The
information about the Isotop scan was a later handwritten addition in
the Discharge Summary .

   The diagnosis after the transplant in the Discharge Summary says the
CRF renal transplant primary nonfunctioning transplant kidney due to
vascular occlusion.  He was asked to be on dialysis on alternate days.

   Balaji's sister hade agreed to donate her kidney to save their father
and it is mentioned in the 2nd discharge summary that Trimbakbaba Rao's
daughter is coming for donating kidney.

   For dialysis, Balaji and his father had to stay outside in a hotel
and he had to pledge their lands and assets to the bank.  He also had to
take loans from his friends and well-wishers.  He had again approached
the Lok Sabha Speaker Shivaraj Patel who gave him a letter dated
13.10.1994 to the Medical Superintendent of the Sai Baba Hospital to
give him dialysis treatment until he was ready for the second surgery.

   The doctors in the Sai Baba Hospital to do the 2nd transplantation of
the kidney agreed to use daughter's kidney.  When Balaji read about the
kidney racket in Bangalore and Bombay he wondered whether his kidney has
been robbed.  The murmuring of other patients about the kidney robbery
going on in the Sai Baba Hospital made him to think rationally and he
wanted to make sure whether his kidney was really transplanted to his
father, he returned back with his father to his home town Latur.  On the
advise of his doctor in Latur a sonography was done on his father on
5.8.1995 and it said that the transplanted kidney not visualized !(see
page 31)

   On medical advise, on 7-8-1995 a C.T. Scan of abdomen was performed
and the report said that the patient's own kidneys are well visualized
and the transplanted kidney could not be visualized. (see page 32)

   On 9.12.1995 Trimbakbaba Rao expired and Balaji was not in town. 
When we returned back he found that his fether was buried at the
instigation of Sai Baba followers.  He was sad.  He approached the
Collector of the District and District Police Superintendent for
permission to exhume the body for post-mortem.  He was given permission
and the post mortem report state that the transplanted kidney was not
there.  That the kidneys inside were the dead man's own kidneys.

   Balaji had approached the Consumer Protection Council in Delhi and
his petition was dismissed on flimsy technical grounds by the Chairman
who is also the trustee of the Satya Sai Central Trust.  The law says
that the accused cannot be the judge in his own case !

   Balaji is in a fix.  He is full in debt in his struggle to save his
father.  He also wants to see that such unethical practices do not
continue in the Sai Baba Hospital.  Hundreds of kidney transplantations
are conducted in Sai Baba's hospital on rich foreign devotees of Sai
baba.  He says that it is necessary to investigate all the kidney
transplantation cases and find out who donated the kidneys.  It is also
necessary to investigate the kidney transplantations on the date
Balaji's kidney was removed.  He cannot approach the courts as he is in
penury.  We wish that this case is taken by the Supreem Court of India
as a Public Interest Litigation and give justice to the family of
Trimbakbaba Rao and also see that proper action is taken against the law
breakers.

   Balaji was staying with me in the hotel room in Pune from 23rd night
to 27th night of February 1997.  He had pain in the stomach and could
not sleep.  I would wake up hearing his growls.  I am wondering if
removal of kidney was done properly and hygenically and whether it has
turned septic.  He was so emotional when he said he would commit suicide
before the court if he did not get justice.  The only way to repay the
loan he had taken ton save his father would be to leave this world.  I
had to pacify him and make him understand that his mother and wife are
dependent on him.

   I am wondering how it would be possible for people like Balaji to
approach the court of law to get justice ?  How will he be able to pay
for the legal expenses?  Even if he goes to the court, is he sure toget
justice when Sai Baba can influence the judiciary and many of the judges
are his followers.  It is our Apex Court who should answer these
questions.

   Balaji had talked to me about his dreams.  If he gets justice and
compensation, he wants to ustilize the money to purchase a dialysis
machine so that people like him can get free treatment.

   The words below our National Emblem says " Sathyameva Jayathe" that
truth alone would Triumph.  Is it true?  I am yet to see.