Political & Economic Notes :
A Typical Example of the Loot of
MNCs Practiced against Patients in India
The promoters of imperialist
globalisation and its economic
policies of liberalization have been
consistently harping about the so-
called virtues of corporate
management, corporate ethics and
corporate social responsibility etc.
But all these claims are proved to
be nothing but empty talk purely
intended to hood-wink people with
false claims in order to facilitate
trans-national corporations of the
monopoly capital to loot the people
in their heinous pursuit of earning
super-profits.
That the rulers, governments
and governmental regulatory
bodies that have to protect people
from deceit and day-time robbery
of imperialist transnational
corporations too are a part and
parcel of this loot is also becoming
more and more clear to the people
day by day in their day to day
experiences.
Presently such a typical case
of brand and loot played by a
transnational pharmaceutical giant
Johnson & Johnson through its
Indian subsidiary Deputy by
aggressively selling its failed ASR
hip implants to patients in Indian
market through its distributers in
2009, even after the Australia
withdrawn it (ASR implant) from the
market;
In India more than one lakh
joint replacement surgeries are
carried out annually. Of those an
estimated 70,000 to 80,000 are
knee replacements and 20,000 to
30,000 are hip replacements.
The Drug Controller General
of India (DGCI) granted permission
to import and market Deputy’s ASR
hip implant in 2006. At that time the
company has been aggressively
promoting is ATS implant as a long
December - 2018
lasting, durable and ideal choice for
younger candidates opting for hip-
replacement. It claimed that while
most orthopedic implants wear off
after a period of 10 to 15 years
necessitating a revision surgery,
the company claimed that its ASR
implant with a promised life span
of 20 to 25 years and pushed it in
the markets. With simple logic
claimed that its ASR implant
consisting of the femoral head and
stem and the socket (acetabular
cup) promised more longevity as
both are made of metal compared
to the metal-on-polythene implants
which were widely in use then.
From 2006 to 2010, Deputy
Medical Private Ltd., Mumbai, the
Indian subsidiary for Johnson &
Johnson imported a total of 15,289
ASR implants in to India. While the
price of a single MoM implant could
be anywhere between Rs 90,000
and 1.2 lakh, the cost of the
procedure ranges from Rs.2.5 lakh
to Rs 4 lakh.
When
the
Australian
Orthopedic Association of National
Joint Replacement Registry had
red-flagged the early revision
surgery rate of the implant,
Australia withdrew it from the
market in 2009. A Joint registry in
U.K announced that 12% to 13%
of patients are in need of a revision
surgery within 5 years of getting
ASR implant. This finally triggered
a global recall of the company in
August 2010.
By this time 4,700 ASR
surgeries had been carried out in
India and 4,500 patients were
implanted with the ASR implant
from Deputy, the subsidiary of
Johnson and Johnson.
Some of the patients who were
implanted with the ASR of implants
(MoM implants) complained of
suffering from severe pain and are
bed-ridden. But their doctor who
studied the X-rays of the patients
told them that their implant was
absolutely fine and that their pain
is a psychologist one.
But as the implant left large
quantities of metal debries in the
body it leaching of metals mainly
cobalt and chromium caused
severe pain, neuropathy, fluid
accumulation and metal poisoning
in the patients.
Knowing fully-well of all these
faults of its A.T.S implant besides
its highly failing rate J&J had
recalled its ATS implant in August
2010 from global market.
But neither J&J nor its Indian
subsidiary Deputy had taken up
any corrective action to reach the
affected patients in India and
advising them to undergo a revision
surgery. The J&J has conspi-
cuously neglected those affected
patients and their sufferings by
concealing the crucial information
about its faulty ASR implant which
is not short of any criminal
negligence on its part.
It is being claimed that through
social media and internet etc every
person throughout the globe can
know any information and any news
immediately.
But surprisingly neither the
patients, who are mostly the users
of internet and other social media,
nor the rulers of India, nor the
regulatory agencies, nor the
doctors, could alert the suffering
patients with the news of high
failure rate of ATS implants nor the
damage caused to the patients.
This is not a mere over sight
of the ‘news’ about MoM implants
failure but an intentional criminal
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