The National Health Security Office (NHSO) yesterday insisted that the stents - artificial tubes used to keep coronary arteries open for heartattack patients - bought via the bidding process and distributed to state hospitals were good quality and of the correct size.
NHSO's secretarygeneral Dr Winai Sawasdivorn said the stents bough from a private manufacturer had been verified by cardiology experts from several medical schools including Chulalongkorn, Ramathibodi and Siriraj.
He said the first batch of 1,000 stents had been bought from a Chinese firm in December before being distributed among hospitals nationwide. Winai added that though the NHSO did receive a few complaints about the size of the devices, it had never received any complaints about the quality.
"I would like to ask doctors who say the stents are of poor quality, to show us how they may have had problems with the devices over the past 10 months," he said. "Just make sure the complaints do not stem from the emotional factor."
Winai said heart surgeons who had problems with the size of the stents could also submit an appeal and explain why the devices provided cannot be used. After that, they can purchase the correct devices and file reimbursement claims within the price ceiling.
He explained that stents come in sizes ranging from 8mm to 35mm, and each patient's needs were different. Winai said that though the devices provided by the NHSO would not cover all sizes, they would cover most.
In a survey conducted by the Cardiology Intervention Association of Thailand, 41 cardiac surgeons from 23 state and private hospitals nationwide were asked about the problems they might have with the stents provided by the NHSO. Of the respondents, 63.15 per cent said the size did not match the diameter of the patients' arteries; 44 per cent said the stents were too large; 7 per cent said it was difficult to remove the devices, while 5 per cent said the stents got dislodged easily.
The surgeons also complained that the devices were of poor quality and suggested that the NHSO drop the idea of buying the devices via bidding. They also called on the authorities to give hospitals the best option to save lives.
The Public Health Ministry's permanent secretary Dr Paijit Warachit said the ministry's executives would meet on Monday to discuss the issue with the Government Pharmaceutical Organisation and see if conducting a bidding session for stents would be a feasible idea. He said the ministry also had to find out how many stents were needed each hospital because the state did not have enough money to purchase big lots in one go.