Islamabad: Some government and private doctors in Pakistan are importing cheap stents from India and selling them at exorbitant price with fake barcode and international labels, according to media reports.
Indian stents are the cheapest in the world, and some doctors in Pakistan are selling them by packing it with fake barcode and international labels after importing them, the Dunya News reported.
A stent is a splint placed temporarily inside a duct, canal, or blood vessel to aid healing or relieve an obstruction.
The Indian stent that costs Rs 25,000 to 28,000 is being sold for Rs three lakh to Rs three and half lakh by the doctors, the daily said.
Moreover, Indian stents worth Rs 13,000 are also available in different hospitals of Pakistan with fake name.
The daily citing sources said the investigation teams have demanded the record of barcodes of stents from the hospitals, as every stent has a unique barcode which doctors are bound to keep in their records.
The details of stent and its company can be traced through the barcode.
Two types of stents are being imported from India at the moment. In one type, blood does not clot, and in other type, it clots. The stents where there are chance of blood clotting are used more frequently due to cheaper rate, the daily said.
Moreover, some doctors put stents in patients even if there is no need of that just to fulfill their greed for money, it said.
