The five-member Central expert committee will review the reports of state level committees or applications submitted by affected patients based parameters such as degree of disability and patient suffering on account of monetary loss due to loss of wages and other losses. The base amount was fixed at Rs 20 lakh.
The Central government has constituted a five-member Central expert committee to recommend the quantum of compensation for patients who suffered from Johnson & Johnson’s faulty hip implants.
The Central expert committee was formed based on the recommendations of an 11-member expert committee constituted in February 2017 under the Chairmanship of Dr Arun Agarwal that examined issues related to Johnson & Johnson’s faulty ASR hip implants.
The Agarwal committee submitted its report early this year. The government, however, made it public only recently under pressure from patient groups and healthcare activists.
The Agarwal committee, among several things, recommended a compensation of Rs 20 lakh be provided to affected patients and advised forming Central and regional committees to facilitate patients in getting compensation.
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The five-member Central expert committee will review the reports of the state level committees or applications submitted by affected patients based parameters such as the degree of disability and patient suffering on account of monetary loss due to loss of wages etc.
The only major change the government made was that it made all patients implanted with ASR without having revision surgery also eligible to seek compensation.
The Union Health Ministry wrote to all state governments to form state-level committees to enable patients implanted with faulty Johnson & Johnson’s ASR hip implants to reach out to them with their cases.
Moneycontrol saw a copy of the letter written by RG Singh, Under Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare which was circulated to all state governments.
The letter also asked state governments to issue advertisements so that affected patients can contact for relief.
The ASR hip implants made by DePuy, a division of US drug and medical devices giant Johnson & Johnson, were globally recalled in 2010 as it caused metal wear debris and an elevated release of cobalt and chromium beyond 7 parts per billion resulting in higher than normal parameters for revision surgeries.
Hip implants are used in hip replacement surgery. Johnson & Johnson is facing lawsuits from patient groups in various countries. In some countries, it has reached a settlement with patient groups by paying billions of dollars.
DePuy had earlier informed CDSCO that there were 4,700 ASR surgeries performed in India and just 882 patients could be traced. The status of over 2,300 patients remains untraceable.
Johnson & Johnson defended its action and said the priority is and always has been patient safety. The company said the ASR was imported and marketed in India and in various countries around the world, with all regulatory approval and permissions as were then applicable.
“Since the voluntary recall decision was made, DePuy has worked to provide patients and surgeons with the information and support they need, including a reimbursement programme to address recall-related costs that was the first-of-its-kind worldwide,” Johnson & Johnson earlier said in a statement.
“Coming after unconscionable delay by CDSCO, which has prolonged suffering of patients, we hope the compensation mechanism is enforceable,” said Vijay Vojhala, one of the patients from Mumbai who was implanted with faulty ASR hip implant.
“It remains to be seen whether the compensation will be just compensation as recommended by the expert committee as the quantum is likely to fall much short of what J&J compensated patients in the US,” Vojhala said.
Vojhala along with other patients have been fighting a prolonged battle to highlight the case.