Ahmedabad: The deaths of 741 kidney patients, occurred between 1999 and 2017, in a government hospital in Gujarat are now under a cloud of suspicion, following revelations of unauthorised drug trials. The issue came to light after it was exposed that doctors at an Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation hospital had conducted unapproved drug trials and embezzled money in the process.

The 741 patients who died were among 2,352 individuals subjected to stem cell therapy trials at the government-run Institute of Kidney Diseases and Research Centre (IKDRC) in Ahmedabad. Following reports of unauthorised stem cell therapy trials at the hospital, the National Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation recently directed the State Health Department’s additional director to provide details of the actions taken.

The Opposition Congress party has also demanded action based on findings from a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report regarding the deaths that occurred between 1999 and 2017.

According to the CAG report, the therapy failed in 91 per cent of the cases. Kidney transplants failed in 569 of the affected patients. Recently, the Drug Controller General of India had barred VS Hospital, also under the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, from conducting further clinical trials.

It was alleged that the hospital conducted trials on around 500 patients using drugs from nearly 50 pharmaceutical companies without the approval of a recognised ethics committee between 2021 and 2025 as well.