Doctors question the increasing instances of using stents for cardiac patients

Is the random use of stents on cardiac patients a result of greedy doctors? The question arises because several senior cardiologists in India have themselves raised concern over rise in the cases of unnecessary implant of stents in India.
In their opinion, more than one third of the elective procedures may not have been necessary. They also believe that there are instances of stents being used in absolutely normal patients. There are hospitals here that boast of conducting up to 25,000 angioplasties a year and many of the cardiologists are close to stent makers and suppliers. In the absence of any monitoring or oversight, patients in India have no protection from unnecessary use of stent.
This has been reported in timesofindia.indiatimes.com dated 10 February 2017.

India is not alone in this. US faced an embarrassing situation a few years back. US undoubtedly has far better monitoring and oversight of medical procedures as compared to India and, studies there had found that only half the non-emergency cardiac stenting procedures were appropriate.
The result was that cardiologists and hospitals had to cough up millions of dollars in penalties for unnecessary stenting. Stent companies also had to pay heavy penalties to settle charges of giving kickbacks to doctors.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

New luxury cruise liner Seabourn Encore is labeled as 'sexiest ship at sea'

Mahatma Gandhi’s samadhi at Rajghat gets a new look

200-year-old banyan tree uprooted by cyclone Vardah replanted in Chennai


The curse of social media – cold blooded murders committed

Saraswati Puja means entering a new phase of life

Moody on UFO, Mangalyaan and Moon Mission for monkey baat (satire)


Naomie Harris gets Oscar nomination in the best-supporting actress category for Moonlight

Nicole Kidman could earn $8 million if she writes her autobiography

Sets of the film Padmavati in Jaipur vandalised, Bhansali cancels shooting


Mayor of London worried about ISIS attacks on the city

Militants in Indonesia looking for women terrorists

Six people shot dead by gunmen in a mosque in Quebec City during evening prayers