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Heart stents
FROM PAGE 1
DGDA, told The Daily Star after the meeting.
Of the stents produced by Abbott Laboratories, the base price of Xience Prime, one of the most used in Bangladesh, will be reduced to $425 from $561.
The maximum retail price would also be reduced from Tk 84,800 to Tk 64,754, before tax reduction.
The price of another stent of this company, Xpedition, will drop in phases to $600 from the current $830. The MRP would be Tk 1.81 lakh before tax reduction is factored in.
The base price of Promus Primer, a stent produced by Boston Scientific, will go down to $470 from $570. The MRP of this stent will likely be reduced to Tk 74,411 from Tk 86,500.
The DGDA asked Boston Scientific officials to reduce the base price for Synergy stents by $300 from the current price of $1,200, and their Promus Elite stents by $300 from $900.
“The company officials said they would inform us about this later,” said Maj Gen Yousuf.
“We have informed them that our people cannot afford the high prices … So, we proposed maintaining the same price they charge in India,” he said.
They argued that the market size in Bangladesh is smaller than that of India for which they cannot reduce the price. “But we said otherwise we will have to explore other sources. They agreed at last,” he said.
In India, the price of stents starts from Rs 9,842 and goes up to Rs 35,835.

Hajj begins
FROM PAGE 12
witness the largest hajj pilgrimage in history,” if things go according to plan, predicted an official with the Saudi ministry of hajj and umrah.
“The numbers will exceed 2.5 million pilgrims,” added the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak with the press.
The hajj began early yesterday with the “tawaf” -- the circumambulation of the Kaaba, the large cubic structure draped in black cloth with gold trimmings that Muslims around the world pray towards every day.
“I am living the most beautiful days of my life,” said Saeed Abdel Azim, a 65-year-old Egyptian performing the ritual. “The dream has come true,” added the retiree, who had saved for 20 years to pay the thousands of dollars needed to take part.
The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam and must be undertaken at least once by all Muslims with the means.
A series of rites are completed over four days in Mecca and its surroundings in the west of oil-rich Saudi Arabia.
Yesterday afternoon, pilgrims started moving to Mina, about five kilometres (three miles) from the Grand Mosque, ahead of the hajj’s climax at Mount Arafat, where the Prophet Mohammed is believed to have delivered his final sermon.
Mina, the world’s largest tent city, readied to receive the influx of pilgrims, with food supplies brought in and security forces deployed around the area.
More worshippers are expected to head to Mina on Monday, as a vibrant atmosphere takes hold of the tented city with the arrival of pilgrims by foot or via airconditioned buses.
Outside the Grand Mosque, thousands prayed on colourful carpets that adorned the pavement, with male pilgrims wearing simple white robes. The area was dotted with ambulances, mobile clinics and fire trucks.
The hajj poses a considerable security challenge and has seen several disasters over the years, including a 2015 stampede that killed up to 2,300 people.
There have been no major incidents since, and catastrophe was the last thing on pilgrims’ minds.
“I cannot describe my feelings,” said Indonesian student Yusuf Burhan, 25. “This is a great blessing. I never imagined that I would perform the hajj this year.” This year’s summer timing for the hajj, which follows the lunar calendar, is testing the endurance of worshippers during the mostly outdoor ritual.
Carrying white umbrellas to shield themselves from the scorching sun, policemen in the mountainous city have conducted foot patrols and set up checkpoints to inspect hajj permits.
Others splashed water on pilgrims as temperatures climbed towards 45 degrees Celsius.
Thousands of paramedics were on standby inside the Grand Mosque. Saudi authorities said more than 32,000 health workers will be on hand to treat cases of heatstroke, dehydration and exhaustion.
The hajj, which costs at least $5,000 a person, makes billions of dollars a year for Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, which is trying to diversify its economy beyond fossil fuels.
This year’s will be the biggest since 2019, before the Covid pandemic, when about 2.5 million people took part.
Only 10,000 were allowed in 2020, at the height of the global outbreak, rising to nearly 59,000 in 2021.
Last year’s cap of one million has been removed.
Saudi businessman Samir al-Zafni said all his hotels in Mecca and Madinah are at full capacity until the first week of July.
“This year there is not a single vacant bed in our group of 67 hotels,” he told AFP.
The hajj also demonstrates social reforms in the deeply conservative kingdom.
This year’s pilgrimage will be the biggest since Saudi Arabia scrapped rules in 2021 that banned women who weren’t accompanied by a male relative.
Waiting for a car to take him out of the vicinity of Mecca’s grand mosque, Moroccan merchant Abdullah al-Haqouni, 65, said he was struggling with the temperature.
“I am very tired. The heat is unbearable,” he said, carrying a green umbrella. “God help us.”