Umer Sharif’s Daughter died from Illegal Kidney Transplant

Pakistani comedian Umer Sharif’s daughter died after she developed serious complications following an alleged illegal kidney transplant.

The comedian’s son, Jawad Umar, accused Dr Fawad Mumtaz of causing Hira Sharif’s death.

Following the complaint, the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) and Human Organ Transplant Authority (HOTA) raided Dr Mumtaz’s house in Lahore on February 18, 2020.

When officials turned up at his house, it was revealed he fled in order to avoid arrest.

Dr Mumtaz worked at Lahore General Hospital, however, an official claimed he was notorious for operating an organ trade network in different parts of Punjab.

In his statement, Jawad alleged that Dr Mumtaz charged Rs. 3.4 million (£17,000) for the organ transplant and took Hira to an undisclosed place in Azad Jammu and Kashmir.

A week after the operation, she developed complications and ended up dying.

Jawad said that his sister was brought to a private hospital in a life-threatening condition. HOTA subsequently launched an investigation.

Jawad stated that he and his family did not know it was an illegal operation at the time.

Umer Sharif had been visiting the United States at the time.

One official said that Dr Mumtaz’s uninterrupted running of the illegal network was a “slap in the face of the faulty criminal justice system”.

He went on to say that Dr Mumtaz was involved in several illegal organ transplant cases across the province of Punjab.

The surgeon was arrested in April 2017 for allegedly carrying out illegal kidney transplants on foreigners.

During one procedure, a Jordanian woman died. At the time, Dr Mumtaz, the then-general secretary of Young Doctors Association Dr Altamash Kharal, and two others were arrested.

The crackdown on the illegal organ trade racket being run by doctors had hit headlines, leading to criticism from the medical community for giving space to “notorious medics” for playing with the lives of people.

Dr Mumtaz was also arrested in April 2018 and he was denied bail by the Lahore High Court under the charges of illegal kidney transplantation.

He managed to move his case to another court and he was released on bail. He continued with his role at Lahore General Hospital.

The official alleged that Dr Mumtaz was involved in a case in August 2019 where he operated on a man and allegedly removed his kidney illegally.

Following the case, Dr Mumtaz obtained pre-arrest bail from the court of additional district and sessions judge Mohammad Nawaz Bhatti.

On this, HOTA legal director Imran Ahmad pursued the case with the same judge who rejected bail of Dr Mumtaz for not appearing in court.

The investigation is ongoing to locate the whereabouts of Dr Mumtaz.