GERMAN PACEMAKER FRAUD ALLEGED

The medical chiefs and managers of a number of German heart treatment centers have been accused of defrauding the public-sector health funds out of millions of Deutschemarks and of having accepted bribes from manufacturers of pacemakers. They are to be investigated by the federal parliament's health committee, at a special hearing.

The federation of local health insurance funds claims it has long suspected that the price of pacemakers was being set too high, and was seeking to have the prices reduced. Pacemaker products sold in Germany are produced almost exclusively by US manufacturers.

The announcement of the inquiry into the pacemaker bribe claims was followed almost immediately by statements from health funds indicating that other forms of health service fraud involving other types of medical products "could be practised." However, karsten Vilmar, president of the federal chamber of doctors, said legal action would be taken against the health funds unless they backed up their general claims with concrete evidence.