Leading aesthetic plastic surgeon, Professor Laurence Kirwan, has spoken out over the PIP inplant scandal, claiming only 5% of women have an immediate solution to the problem.
Health on Female First
Government newspaper advertising running at the weekend offer women a replacement operation, only if the initial op was done on the NHS. This figure is actually a tiny percent of women.
He says: "The other 50,000 women, taxpayers and voters, are now being humiliated as they are pitted against private surgeons and clinics."
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, Prof Kirwan argued: "The responsibility for this fiasco lies with the MHRA (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency), who in performing its regulatory duties, allowed these products to be used for a number of years. If the MHRA shuts up shop on this matter it should be shut down and the responsibility handed to the FDA."
"The responsibility most certainly doesn't lie with private surgeons and clinics that in good faith purchased government regulated breast inplants from the French manufacturer Poly Implant Prostheses (PIP)."
The PIP inplants scandal was brought to light after it was revealed the French manufacturer PIP and Dutch company Rofil Medical used inferior, industrial grade, silicone in the breast inplants they sold. These type of inplants have a higher rupture rate than other implants and since this discovery, women have been advised to have them removed.
This has left thousands of women worried and in need of medical care which has proceeded into a debate over who is responisible and should fund the bill.
The latest development in this complex case was for only women who have been experiencing pain or tenderness in their breast to seek medical attention as they might be in urgent need of a removal.
Alexandra Baracskai
Tagged in NHS