Johnson and Johnson hip implant victims narrate their ordeal

Kabbir Chandhok went for a hip implant surgery surgery hoping for a better life but the thirty-four-year-old says what he got was more medical complications, including blood poisoning and shooting pains.

He is among the many suffering after "faulty" hip implants by the pharmaceutical multinational Johnson and Johnson were used in the country's hospitals.

"My mother has lost her mobility, her life and her dignity," recalls Lucky Pal, a businessman from Nagpur, whose mother became bedridden since she underwent implant surgeries for both hips in 2010 at a private hospital in Saket here.

At the heart of the national capital, at a press meet, they along with many others narrated the ordeals faced by them and their loved ones due to the implants.

Chandhok, who suffers from an auto-immune disorder, had undergone his first implant surgery in his left hip in 2007.

"In 2013, when I went for my right hip implant surgery I got to know from the doctor that I will have to undergo a revision replacement surgery on the left hip as the company had recalled the implant in 2010.

"And a normal implant surgery which usually takes four to five hours, went on for more than nine hours in my case as the surgeons had to rip the femur bone apart to remove the faulty implant and put in a longer implant," he said.

Chandhok's blood tests showed high levels of cobalt and chromium, released by the implant, because of which his bones, tissues and muscles were getting deteriorated and blood clots were forming in body.

The Mumbai resident said his movement is restricted and at times he gets shooting pains.

He claimed to have approached the company several times but said he was paid for only two months of physiotherapy sessions and sought stern action against the company.

Sitting next to Chandhok was Vijay Vojhala, a native of Dombivali in Maharashtra. He was the only one, out of around 101 victims, who was called to depose before a high-powered expert committee.

The panel in its report to the Health Ministry in August-end said, "The ASR (articular surface replacement) hip implants manufactured by DePuy International Ltd were found to be faulty which resulted in higher instances of revision surgeries globally, including India."