Johnson & Johnson's faulty hip plants: SC disposes of case after govt promises compensation

The Supreme Court on Friday accepted the central government's submission of granting compensation to victims in the American pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson's faulty hip implants and disposed of the case.

The government has assured to pay compensation ranging between Rs 3 lakh and Rs 1.22 crore to the victims.

A bench of the apex court headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, asked the Centre to give proper and wide publicity to the scheme.

The top court wrapped up the public interest litigation (PIL) in the matter filed by Arun Kumar Goenka, the kith and kin of one of the victims, on the issue of compensation for faulty hip implants by Johnson & Johnson.

Goenka had filed the plea before the apex court after his wheel-chair bound mother Poorna Devi, who was in her late 80s, died in March last year after the hip implant in her case allegedly failed.

Goenka, in his petition, claimed that 14,525 people were fitted with faulty hip implants since 2005. The petitioner also alleged that Johnson & Johnson was responsible for the "faulty" hip replacement surgery into the bodies of more than 14,000 Indian patients.

The petition also directed the government to advertise across India about the recall of the faulty implants and devise a suitable mechanism for the safety of the 14,525 patients who underwent the surgery.

The plea also sought a direction from the top court to the Centre and the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation for taking necessary steps to save the lives of those who underwent the "faulty" hip replacement surgery.

On October 5 last year, the Supreme Court had asked the Centre to submit its expert committee's report within the next two months while hearing the matter.