ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on National Health Services (NHS) on Friday directed the Ministry of NHS and the Drug Regulatory Authority of Pakistan (Drap) to devise a policy for stent prices in a month and submit it with the committee.

It has also suggested that people should lodge complaints regarding stents on the Senate website. Members of the committee said this was the only way to ensure that patients are provided with quality stents at affordable prices.

Stents are small, expandable tubes which are used to treat narrowed arteries. They can open arteries, reduce symptoms like chest pain and help avoid heart attacks in people with coronary heart diseases caused by a build-up of plaque.

Last month, a large number of unregistered cardiac stents worth over Rs250 million were recovered from the Mayo Hospital Lahore and it was also revealed that at times, patients are told that a stent has been fixed in their arteries when it has not.

The Supreme Court then took suo moto notice of the matter and has asked Drap and other stakeholders to ensure patients are provided with quality stents at affordable prices.

Parliamentarians suggest patients should lodge complaints regarding stents on Senate website to control stent quality, prices

It was also revealed that there is no system for the sale of stents and that instead of being sold in medical stores, company representatives station themselves in the cardiac centres of various hospitals where they sell stents to patients and do not give them a proper receipt due to which patients cannot gather information regarding the quality of stents they are sold.

On Friday, Drap Chief Executive Officer Dr Mohammad Aslam informed the committee that 55 stents were already registered and another 20 were registered in the current week.

“Substandard stents are sold in the market and doctors also use expired stents,” he said.

When committee members asked why stent prices were not regulated in Pakistan, Secretary NHS Ayub Sheikh said that the prices of stents and medicines are not regulated anywhere in the world.

However, Senator Mian Attique rejected the excuse and said that the prices of stents should be fixed and that stent prices could not be fixed in four years.

The committee, which was chaired by Senator Sajjad Hussein Turi, directed the NHS ministry and Drap to make a policy regarding stents in a month and submit it to the committee.

The Secretary NHS assured the committee that the policy will be drafted and that it will be ensured that the prices of stents will not be more than what it costs in India and Bangladesh.

NIH short on staff

A representative of the National Institute of Health (NIH) informed the committee that the institute was short on staff.

He said the institute was established through a presidential ordinance in 1980 and that 800 patients visit every day.

“The machines are almost three decades old and 344 seats are vacant at the institute, where important vaccines including dog bite and snake bite are produced,” he said.

NHS Minister Saira Afzal Tarar said that of the 712 people working in the NIH, only a few had technical expertise.

“Due to nepotism, members of the same family are appointed in the NIH, which has been affecting the efficiency of the institute for 15 years. We are trying to address this issue,” she said.

Published in Dawn, February 11th, 2017