NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday sought the Centre’s response to a plea alleging that 14,525 Indian patients were fitted with faulty and deadly hip implants made by US-based pharma major Johnson and Johnson.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justices S K Kaul and K M Joseph asked the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to inform it within two months about the actions, if any, taken after an expert committee found the pharma firm guilty of medical negligence.
The top court took the step after hearing the plea filed by Arun Kumar Goenka, whose mother died following faulty hip implant surgeries.
“The committee has found Johnson and Johnson guilty of medical negligence. However, till date nothing has been done to discover vast number of patients who had undergone hip transplant,” the petitioner said.
DePuy Orthopaedics Inc (USA), a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson, is engaged in the business of manufacturing, selling and exporting medical implants, including Articular Surface Replacement (ASR) hip implants, the plea said, adding that the hip implants were withdrawn by the firms on their own in 2010 as they were found defective.
The bench took note of the PIL and sought assistance of one of the Additional Solicitor Generals. It listed the matter after two months.