High Court bars expired stents for heart patients

The High Court in Bangladesh has embargoed implanting stents beyond their use-by dates in heart patients at all hospitals, including the National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD).

Staff Correspondentbdnews24.com
Published : 29 Jan 2015, 11:01 AM
Updated : 29 Jan 2015, 11:01 AM

It also issued a suo moto rule on Thursday asking why suppliers of expired stents, those who procure them and the ones that place those in patients will not be declared illegal.

The health secretary, health department's director general, police chief and the NICVD director have been asked to come up with explanations.

The rule came after a TV report caught the attention of the High Court bench of Justice Quazi Reza-Ul Hoque and Justice Abu Taher Md Saifur Rahman.

Stents are tubes designed to be inserted into a vessel to keep it open.

They are planted into narrowed coronary arteries. It then allows the normal flow of blood and oxygen to the heart.

Channel 24 aired the report on Wednesday where it showed alleged use of expired stents at the NICVD.

Lawyer Zayedi Hasan Khan read out the online version of the report published on the TV website before the court on Thursday.

He told reporters that the court embargoed use of expired stents until the rule was resolved.

It also ordered commissioning of an investigation committee headed by the chief of the health department and submission of report within a month, added Khan.