This is apropos of the letter “Refurbished medical equipment: (Nov 6).

I fully agree with the views of the writer and would like to add that 10- to 15-year-old medical-imaging equipment which are sold as junk in western countries are being imported in the country as scrap by some unscrupulous companies, thus robbing the national exchequer of custom duties and taxes.

These old used equipments after face-lifting are reportedly supplied to government hospitals as brand new. To a private practitioner, they fraudulently report sometimes as brand new equipment or as refurbished. These ignorant customers are lured in by their offer of a very low price, compromising on the quality of diagnostic results they are providing to their patients.

Not only due to obsolete technology, but also due to being used over the years, these used equipments loose their quality of images and there are chances that many deadly diseases may be missed by even the most experienced user.

Moreover when such equipment further gets defective, these cannot be repaired as the manufacturers have stopped supplying the maintenance parts long time ago.
They become a piece of metal wasting the nation’s precious foreign exchange.

It is sad that there is no law or standard regarding the quality and performance of imported medical equipment in Pakistan.

There is a flood of sub-standard medical equipment being imported which are giving wrong diagnosis and ultimately the patients are suffering.

M. T. AZAM SHAIKH
Karachi