mumbai the food and drug administration fda has unearthed a racket of unlicensed medical implants being sold out of the residential quarters of staterun gt hospital by the brother of an orthopaedic surgeon the drug regulatory authority also suspects the involvement of doctors in the scam acting on a tipoff on february 2 fda officials raided room no 306 on the third floor of one of the hospital buildings that is commonly referred to as highrise they found vineet pimpale storing and selling orthopaedic implants without a licence under the name of medical surgical and hospital equipment that bore a bhiwandi address he was also illegally staying there the fda officials also recovered intramedullary nails and interlocking bolts worth rs 4 lakh from the room which hospital authorities claimed was supposed to be a store house pimpale has no official association with the jj group of hospitals though his surgeon brother had previously worked there a doctor from a staterun hospital on condition of anonymity said that in the past they have come under political pressure to buy implants from pimpaleauthorities at gt hospital claimed they were unaware of the racket till the fda came on their doorstep the rooms in that building are allotted by the maharashtra association of resident doctors as per our knowledge it was a store room said dr m tayade medical superintendent of gt hospitalthe bills recovered from the room showed that the implants including acetabular cups shoulder prosthesis rods bipolar hip cross and tibia nails were mainly supplied to jj gt and st george hospitals on interrogation pimpale led the fda officials to a nanded firm asclepious enterprises where orthopaedic implants worth rs 107 crore were recovered this company too did not have a licence to sell or distribute implants but was supplying to 22 stockists in the state surprisingly the company has been appointed as authorized dealers for the state government by sharma surgical and engineering pvt ltd a gujaratbased manufacturing firm our team will visit gujarat said fda commissioner harshadeep kamble adding that the seized implants have been sent for quality checkshead of orthopaedics at jj hospital dr eknath pawar said they had banned pimpale from selling implants to patients over a year ago we suspected his credentials so did not allow him to operate at jj but we have little control over where patients buy implants from he said pawar added that agents like pimpale somehow get an access to the ot list where names of patients awaiting a knee or hip surgery or treatment for fractures is listed and contact them dean of jj group of hospitals dr t p lahane said they will investigate into the matter we will inquire how he got access to that room at g t hospital kamble said pimpale has violated section 18 c of the drugs and cosmetics act which can attract a penalty of minimum rs 1 lakh and up to five years jail