The director of Guadalajara’s Hospital Civil has announced the indefinite suspension of its liver transplant program following allegations of corruption.

Jalisco’s comptroller is investigating claims that the state-run hospital’s star liver transplant surgeon, Luis Carlos Rodriguez Sancho, accepted payments of up to one million pesos in exchange for smoothing paperwork for liver surgery at the hospital, and possibly even finding a donor organ for patients not on the national waiting list.

Rodriguez justified the charges as fees for extra hours and personnel, though payments were made to a private bank account. He said deposits made to his father’s account allowed him to proceed with his work and surgeries without being slowed by institutional bureaucracy.

On Wednesday, Jalisco’s justice department detained Rodriguez, ostensibly to prevent his disappearance before the investigation is complete.

Jaime Agustin Gonzalez Alvarez, the Hospital Civil’s general director, has defended Rodriguez, arguing that it is possible that the surgeon was merely working with private patients, transactions in which the hospital does not normally intervene. Gonzalez denies that any irregularities existed in the management of the liver transplant waiting list.

Fifty-two of about 100 liver transplants performed in Mexico last year were done by Rodriguez’s highly successful team at the Hospital Civil. While kidney transplants will continue, hospital authorities said they are unwilling to compromise patient safety by using a less experienced physician for liver transplants.

Alternative treatments are available for patients while they wait for a kidney transplant but there are no such options for patients with liver failure.

The only other liver transplant team in western Mexico is led by Dr. Federico Mendoza at the IMSS Centro Medico in Guadalajara.