BAHAWALPUR, March 5: A five-member medical board was constituted on Monday to examine the victim of an alleged kidney removal and sale scam unearthed here recently. The board, ordered by DPO Arif Nawaz, will be headed by medical superintendent of the Bahawal Victoria Hospital Dr Khalid Majid, while radiologist Javed Kamran, Surgeon Prof Farooq Ahmed, Dr Salman Ahmed Waris of urology department, and Prfo Dr Naheed Fatimah will be its members.

Dr Majid has asked police to produce the victim, Samia Bibi, for her medical examination before the board on March 7 at the BVH.

Inspector Farrukh Javed of Nowshehra Jadid police station told Dawn telephonically on Monday that police had entered the arrest of two accused, Abdul Hamid and Allah Bakhsh, in their record, who were already in custody.

The interim bail before arrest of the main accused, Shakil, husband of Samia, and his father Ismail was extended by the court up to March 8.

Meanwhile, a lawyer, claiming to be Samia’s counsel, alleged at a press conference here that three doctors had fraudulently removed her kidney.

The lawyer, Malik Qasim, flanked by Samia and her mother Bashiran Bibi, read out a lengthy statement in which he took a strong exception to surgeon Prof Ashraf Niazi’s statement given at a press conference a few days back in which he had claimed that the victim was without her right kidney since her birth.

He alleged that two doctors, Ahmad Saeed and Sohail Anjum, had removed Sania’s kidney with the connivance of her husband with mala fide intention, and they were involved in the scandal.

He said the accused, Shakil, had admitted before a panchayat (before the registration of the case) that he had purchased a new tractor with the amount he received as the price of her wife’s kidney. He claimed that the accused had also mentioned the names of the two doctors who removed Samia’s kidney, and promised to pay compensation money to his wife.

Advocate Qasim further alleged that radiologist Javed Kamran in Samia’s ultra-sound report, dated Nov 13, 2006, had stated that her right kidney was missing. He said the doctor never mentioned in the report that Samia’s kidney was missing since her birth.

Regarding the absence of kidney removal arrangements at the BVH, the lawyer said that Dr Shabeer Ahmed of Ahmedpur East was involved in several cases of human organ removal, and he did the obnoxious surgery at his clinic without the required facilities.

He also alleged that police was conniving with the accused because of political influence.

He said the medical documents provided by Prof Ashraf Niazi were fake which were prepared to conceal the facts of the case.

He demanded that chief justice of Pakistan and Punjab chief minister should take notice of the matter and immediately remove the three doctors from the service. He also demanded that the case should be referred to an independent medical board comprising top experts of the country so that the accused could be fully exposed.

POSTING: Senior police officers in the rank of deputy inspector general will be posted as city police officers in Rawalpindi, Multan, Faisalabad and Gujranwala soon.