There are medical devices and implants for nearly every purpose, whether it's a bad knee or birth control. But what happens when something goes wrong with the device? Who do patients turn to for justice? Inspired by news reports on botched implants, including articles by mid-day and the #Implant Files series of reports by The Indian Express and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, activists have floated an online petition to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, calling for a comprehensive and effective regulator for drugs and medical devices along the lines of the Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA), which governs the real estate sector.

The petition, by activist B N Kumar, states that the medical devices market is currently governed by an archaic, nearly 80-year-old law, the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. The petition has also been mailed to Union Health Minister J P Nadda and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. As the Express reported, despite an estimated 5,000 medical devices being sold in the country — ranging from bone caps, metallic prosthetics, fallopian rings to catheter guide wires — there are just 23 categories of medical devices that are "notified" and, therefore, regulated.