Burdwan, Dec. 15: The Burdwan health authorities have started an inquiry after the President took a personal interest in a complaint that a woman?s right kidney went missing after two surgeries, none of which had anything to do with the organ.

Doctor Anadi Banerjee conducted both surgeries ? an appendectomy in 1994 and a ligation in 1999 ? on 34-year-old Asha Devi, a resident of Kanyapur in Asansol. After the ligation, an ultrasonography report in 2002 said her right kidney ?could not be visualised either in normal position or lower down?.

A CT scan of the lower abdomen this June too could not locate the kidney. ?The right kidney could not be delineated,? the report says.

Asha Devi and her husband Lakshminarayan Shau were taken aback. In a USG done on September 4, 1996, it was found that she had two normal kidneys.

Shau, an LIC agent, lodged a complaint with Asansol police this September, accusing the doctor of removing Asha Devi?s kidney during the ligation procedure.

He also approached the state human rights commission as well as President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam with help from an NGO.

Banerjee refuted the charges. ?This accusation is false. This is nothing but a conspiracy to tarnish my image,? he said.

A letter arrived from Rashtrapati Bhavan in November, seeking details of the case from the state government. Writers? Building sat up and the health department set up a three-member committee led by the deputy chief medical officer of health of Burdwan, Tarun Mukherjee, this month.

Several tests, including an intravenous pylography (IVP), was carried out on Asha Devi yesterday. In an IVP, a dye is injected into the patient that concentrates in the kidney. At this point an imaging of the organ is done.

?Earlier, two USG reports done from a private clinic gave different reports. While the first said there were two kidneys, the next, taken several years later, could not locate the right kidney. We can come to a decision only after scrutinising the IVP report,? said Burdwan chief medical officer of health Santosh Sarengi.

After the appendectomy in a private clinic in Asansol, Asha Devi again suffered from stomach ache. She consulted another doctor, who advised a USG. It showed she had both kidneys.

After the ligation in 1999, Asha Devi fell ill in 2002. She went to another doctor, who advised another USG. She did it from the same clinic, but this time it showed that her right kidney could not be visualised.

Her health kept deteriorating and she consulted yet another doctor. He was surprised to see the differing USG reports and advised a CT scan. It confirmed the second USG finding.