2018 Images Of Alleged Kidney Theft In UP Revived With COVID-19 Spin

A set of two images from June 2018 showing a human kidney kept on ice and another photo showing a policeman gesture aggressively at another man, have been revived on Facebook with a false claim that a doctor in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh was caught trying to steal the kidney of COVID-19 patient.

BOOM found that the images pertain to an incident in June 2018 when the family of a patient, who was admitted to Garg Hospital in Muzaffarnagar for removal of a kidney stone, alleged that the doctor stole the patient's kidney.

The images are being shared with a caption in Hindi translates to: "a doctor at Garg Hospital in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh, was caught trying to sell a kidney from a corona patient. Humanity is over, he has stigmatized Dr.'s profession."

(Original text in Hindi: उत्तर प्रदेश के मुजफ्फरनगर मे गर्ग हास्पीटल का एक डाक्टर कोरोना मरीज से गुर्दे निकाल कर बेचने का प्रयास करता पकड़ा गया। मानवता खत्म हो गयी है डॉ के पेशे को कलंकित कर दिया ।)

Click here to see other Facebook posts making the same false claim.

The set of images is viral on Twitter as well and has the exact same false claim.

Fact Check

BOOM ran a reverse image search with one of the viral photographs. It led us to this article published by a Hindi website dated June 22, 2018.

We ran a relevant keywords search and found a report published by Hindustan Times on June 23, 2018. According to the report, "police said Imran, son of 60-year-old patient Iqubal, alleged that Dr Vibhu Garg of Garg Hospital in New Mandi area had not discussed the possibility of kidney removal before the operation."

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"After the operation, the patient's kin created ruckus at the hospital. Later, on the basis of a written complaint filed by Iqubal's wife, Ummed Jahan, a case under section 338 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against Dr Garg and a probe has been initiated, police said," the article stated.

A report by NDTV reads, "according to a complaint lodged by the family members of 60-year-old patient Iqbal, the victim was admitted in the hospital yesterday for removal of kidney stones. But Dr Vibhu Garg allegedly stole his kidney during a surgery to remove stones."

"The Chief Medical Officer said the Uttar Pradesh Health department sealed the hospital last evening and has formed a team to probe into the matter," the article states further.

Although, the accused doctor Vibhu Garg, in a video, refuted all the allegations and said he had removed the kidney to save the patient and that he did it with the family's consent.

Since the COVID-19 outbreak, BOOM has been debunking fake claims around the virus including false claims of organ trafficking.

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