ISLAMABAD: Chief Justice Saqib Nisar on Thursday observed that the profession of medicine should not have the objective of profiteering, while hearing the suo motu case of the sale of substandard and expensive coronary stents.
Justice Nisar passed the remarks while heading a three-member bench of the Supreme Court.
A coronary stent is a tube-shaped device placed in the coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart, to keep the arteries open in the treatment of coronary heart disease.
During the hearing, the committee headed by Dr Azhar Kiani submitted its recommendations to the apex court regarding the inexpensive production of stents locally.
The committee will begin working on the recommendations in two weeks, the court said, adding that the court will make efforts to bring the price of stents below Rs100,000.
Provinces have also been given a week to submit their proposals on the recommendations.
The apex court also summoned details of all federal projects headed by Pakistani scientist Dr Samar Mubarkmand, who was provided Rs37 million by the government for heading a project for local stent production.
Justice Nisar said that the court will take up the issues of expensive dialysis and kidney treatment in next hearings.
The issue of patients being supplied with illegal stents surfaced after the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) exposed the mafia by sending its assistant director as patient last year.
The fraudsters also included some doctors at Lahore's Mayo Hospital, who would falsely diagnose people with heart issues, letting their accomplices trick them into getting surgeries.
They would sell the patients fake stents for up to Rs200,000, which actually cost the fraudsters Rs6,000. The swindlers even conned several patients into paying money without even placing these stents inside their bodies.
According to officials of the health department, the seized stents did not have manufacturing date, price or registration number on them.
In the last hearing on Saturday, the Supreme Court ordered the attorney general to submit within a week the audit report of Rs37 million handed to Dr Mubarakmand for the production of coronary stents.
Dr Mubarakmand informed the court that a project worth Rs37 million was started while he was the chairman of The National Engineering and Scientific Commission (NESC).
The project was then handed over to the National University of Sciences and Technology, which had informed the court that it started production of stents locally in August last year.