Abstract:
In November 2010, under the authority of the South African National
Director of Public Prosecution, Netcare Kwa-Zulu (Pty) Limited entered into
an agreement whereby it pleaded guilty to 102 counts related to charges
stemming from having allowed its ‘employees and facilities to be used to
conduct . . . illegal kidney transplant operations’. Charged along with this
private company which was, in fact, the St Augustine’s Hospital, located in
Durban, South Africa, were the parent company, Netcare, its CEO, Richard
Friedland, and eight others: four transplant doctors, a nephrologist, two
transplant administrative coordinators, and a translator. The admission of guilt
relates to 109 illegal kidney transplant operations which took place between
June 2001 and November 2003 within a scheme whereby Israeli citizens in
need of kidney transplants would be brought to South Africa for transplants
performed at St Augustine’s Hospital.
