Total hip implant consists of total replacement of all components with prosthetic ones. These involve the placement of a metal stem into the hollow centre of thighbone, replacement of actual ball and socket joint, cartilage with a prosthetic ball, socket made up of strong plastic, metal or ceramics.

The surgery is called Articular Surface Replacement (ASR) and ASR hip resurfacing system. A subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson, DePuy International Limited (DePuy), UK had been manufacturing and importing the implants for several years to India.

The problem is that when the prosthetic ball and socket rub against each other, it causes wear and tear of metallic debris into the bloodstream. This release of metallic debris into the blood can cause complications which would then require revision surgeries.

Reportedly, close to 93.000 patients had received J&J’s faulty implants due to which many experienced adverse reactions. After a British study found the models to have higher failure rates, the product was repealed on August 24, 2010.

An expert committee setup in 2010 found that the design of the implants had led to a lot of wear and tear and an increase in the level of chromium and cobalt in the body. This has made the patient organs vulnerable to damage.

Photo: healthline.com

Earlier, this month, Economic Times reported that the patients who had fallen to prey to these defective implants demanded a ‘just and fair’ compensation for themselves.

The health ministry had approved a formula wherein the patients will be compensated anywhere between Rs 30 lakh and Rs 1.23 crore depending on the patient’s age and level of disability. However, they complained that due to the ambiguity of the surgery, the formula didn’t compensate patients fairly who had received multiple faulty implants.

Photo: moneycontrol.com

On Tuesday, Minister of State for health Ashwini Choubey told the Rajya Sabha that a total of 277 revision surgeries have been performed due to the defective ASR hip implants. On Thursday, Delhi High Court refused to give interim relief to J&J in a petition which challenged the compensation measures for faulty implants.

ET reported that this was the first time when U.S medical device giant publicly opposed the government’s method to compensate the patients. The court refused to interfere in the matter as the SC is also looking into a government appointed expert committee report.

The next hearing is scheduled for February 26, 2019.