It has been stated that when it came to the price of PIP breast implants, they were about eight times cheaper than standard types.

The price of normal pair is about £1,000 but clinics paid about £130 a pair for these.

Women who wanted the implants were told that these implants were of a good quality and were charged £4,500 and £6,000 for one surgery, as charged for expensive implants, the implants were faulty but no one told women so.

According to Dr Vikram Vijh, the cost of these implants alone should have alarmed clinics but no one paid any heed to their quality seeing the cost.

Dr Vijh has been a member of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, and he stated that for several years he had known the danger of PIP implants.

He said, “We all knew they were poor quality. There's a ten per cent rupture rate in the first year compared to almost zero with other implants. The people putting these implants in put profit ahead of patients' welfare.”

He added that these implants did not pose any risk of breast cancer however.