The Health Ministry on Thursday approved of a formula for determination of compensation for patients who prior to August 2010, had received faulty articular surface replacement hip implants manufactured by the Johnson and Johnson.
The compensation payable to patients will be determined in terms of the disability induced by the faulty hip implants in relation to their age, it said.The amount payable ranges from a minimum of ₹30 lakh for those above 65 years with a 20% disability to a maximum of ₹122 lakh for those between 20 and 35 years with over 60% disability.
The government had constituted a central expert committee under the Chairmanship of Dr R.K. Arya, Director, Sports Injury Centre, to determine the quantum of compensation.
“Compensation will be paid in a time bound manner through bank accounts of affected persons by M/S Johnson & Johnson Pvt Ltd,” a Ministry statement said.
The government had constituted a central expert committee under Dr R.K. Arya, Director, Sports Injury Centre, to determine the quantum of compensation.
The central expert committee after holding five meetings prepared a formula for determining compensation for the ASR victim patients, which has been approved by the ministry.
“The government today accepted the formula prepared by central expert committee, paving the way for patients to secure compensation from M/S Johnson & Johnson Pvt Ltd in days to come.
Those between 20 to 35 years would get compensation between ₹58.08 lakh and ₹49.66 lakh for 20 to 30% disability; ₹77.63 lakh to ₹ 69.41 lakh for 30 to 40% disability; ₹100.17 lakh to ₹89.32 lakh for 40 to 50% disability and ₹122.71 lakh to ₹109.15 lakh over 60% disability, according to the statement.
It said those between 35 to 60 years will get a compensation between ₹49.66 lakh and ₹33.63 lakh for 30% disability; ₹69.49 lakh to ₹44.45 lakh for 30 to 40% disability, ₹89.32 lakh to ₹57.26 lakh for 40 to 50% disability and ₹109.15 lakh to ₹69.08 lakh for over 60% disability.
Those above 65 will get ₹30 lakh for 20 to 30% disability, ₹ 40 lakh for 30 to 40% disability, ₹50 lakh for 40 to 50% and ₹60 lakh for over 60% disability, the statement said.
Earlier, the ministry had asked States and Union Territories to form committees to examine cases of affected patients and to make the process less arduous for them. These committees were directed to send their recommendations to the central expert committee.
The States and Union Territories had also been asked to make people aware through newspaper advertisements so that they could approach either the central committee or state level committees.
In a report earlier, an expert panel had suggested that the firm pay compensation of around ₹20 lakh to the affected patients.
The report was made public after patients demanded that it be put in the public domain.
The committee in its report stated that “The ASR hip implants manufactured by DePuy International Ltd were found to be faulty which resulted in higher instances of revision surgeries globally including India“.
The report recommended DePuy International Ltd, a subsidiary of Johnson and Johnson, be made liable to pay at least ₹20 lakh to each affected patient, and the reimbursement for revision surgeries should continue until August 2025.
