India, Oct. 3 -- For more than eight years, the civic administration potentially risked the health and lives of patients as it did not have a licence to test medical devices, drugs and other supplies at its four major hospitals and 16 peripheral hospitals.

Quality checks had been conducted at the BMC's lone central analytical laboratory at Kasturba Hospital, but the centre ceased testing medical devices after an FDA crackdown in March. The FDA found that the lab did not have the licence to conduct the tests as it had ignored changes in regulations issued in 2017.

As mandated - although without a licence - the laboratory used to conduct random sampling of stocks supplied to civic hospitals. Device types tested include stents and balloons...