Defying the call to replace breast implants

Posted by Theresa Milano On Monday, January 9th 2012 in Health

Three of the biggest cosmetic surgery providers from the UK have decided to defy the government who asked the women to have their breast implants removed and replaced free of charge. It was revealed that the Harley Medical Group used substandard implants made by PIP (Poly Implant Prosthèse). There had been 13,900 operations made with these kinds of implants between September 2001 and March 2010. The group's founder, Mel Braham said he would pay for the operation if the NHS would pay the greater bill for the surgery.

The clinics do not agree with the argument made by the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, according to whom women should be allowed to have the implants inserted by the NHS removed should their surgeon decided it is the healthy thing for them to do.

"We believe that private healthcare providers have a moral duty to offer the same service to their patients that we will offer to NHS patients – free information, consultations, scans and removal if necessary," said Lansley.

Clinics blame the regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority (MHRA) for allowing the implants on the market. The implants have a European quality assurance CE mark.

"PIP implants were licensed in the UK by the MHRA, an agency of the Department of Health, for use in the UK. As a result, the NHS, private clinics, private hospitals and private surgeons used these implants in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery," said the Harley Medical Group, revealing that their expert group had not found any evidence that pointed to the fact the implants are unsafe.