PHOTO: AFP
Dr Murtaza Ali, a heart specialist who is the director of the project, was responding to the court’s queries as it resumed the hearing of a suo moto case against the sale of substandard stents in Pakistan.
A three-member bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar is hearing the case.
CJP takes suo moto notice of conditions at government hospitals in Lahore
To a question asked by the bench, Dr Ali said Pakistan had manufactured its own stent and it would be sent to Germany for further testing.
The CJP appreciated the efforts of the experts who had locally developed stents. “We strive to offer good and cheap health facilities to the common man,” he observed.
Towards the end of the hearing, the bench sought a report and the cost of the stents used in the past three months at hospitals.
The next hearing of the case will take place on the coming Saturday.
DRAP report
Earlier, the Drug Regularity Authority of Pakistan (DRAP) submitted a report wherein it was stated that a survey was conducted by authority’s field offices in Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar and Lahore. It was observed that importers of coronary stents had started complying with the federal government’s directive and the DRAP’s advisory and printing maximum retail price on cardiac stents for a patient’s information.
Similarly, catheterisation laboratories have also started displaying the prices of cardiac stents. To check latest position, another survey is also being conducted by the DRAP’s field offices.
The DRAP has also launched and activated the first IT-based National Registry for Cardiac Stents (NRCS), which would provide a mechanism for manufacturers and importers and catheterisation laboratories. It was also submitted that letters were also written to the health secretaries of all provinces and to relevant hospitals on the provision of procurement prices of cardiac stents. Despite three reminders, only Punjab responded to the letter.
The report further read that the Medical Devices Rules, 2017 had been notified on January 16 after the federal government’s approval and a period of nine months was provided to the manufacturers and importers of cardiac stents for the enlistment and registration of stents. The DRAP is in the process of collecting import invoices of stents imported from different countries. Field offices have been directed to collect import invoices from importers of cardiac stents and send to DRAP headquarters for analysis. The association of importers of stents has been directed to participate in finalization of mechanism to regulate the prices of cardiac stents.
SC takes suo moto notice of fee hikes in medical colleges
In January last year, the CJP took notice of stent fraud following reports that some hospitals in Lahore were either unnecessarily placing stents in cardiac patients or charging patients up to Rs180,000 for each stent, which actually costs not more than a few thousand rupees. The reports also stated that in many cases, stents were not even implanted in patients, but the hospitals charged them for bogus angioplasties.
The apex court also summoned the heads of the Rawalpindi Institute of Cardiology and the Punjab Institute of Cardiology, Lahore, to next hearing on February 3 in Islamabad over the miserable conditions of hospitals.
Besides, the chiefs of the Shifa International Hospital, the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences, the Quaid-e-Azam International Hospital, the Kulsoom International Hospital, the Aga Khan University Hospital and the National Institute of Child Health, Karachi have also been called to the next hearing.
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