AS many as 4000 Scottish women may have received banned PIP breast implants, it has emerged, as the UK Government was urged to take action against "unscrupulous" private firms refusing to offer free removal.

First Minister Alex Salmond told Holyrood yesterday the number of women affected in Scotland was "in the region of 2500 to perhaps 4000", with no record of the implants being used on patients in the NHS.

He said: "We expect private providers to provide the same level of service to their patients without cost. Where a private provider no longer exists, or won't provide the service, we won't leave any woman in Scotland without support. The NHS will step in.

"The presumption is this will only cover removal of implants. However, if clinical opinion is that replacement is required, and that is what the woman wants, it would also be covered by our NHS."

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon is to meet victims after two private cosmetic surgery groups said they expected patients to foot the bill if they wanted PIP implants removed.

The Harley Medical Group, which has a clinic in Glasgow, said offering replacements would put it out of business and women would instead have to pay £2800 to have them taken out. It has fitted about 14,000 British women with the implants – more than any other firm.

Transform – which operates in six locations throughout Scotland – has also said it will not provide the procedure for free.

The implants – made by now defunct French firm Poly Implant Prostheses (PIP) – were filled with non-medical grade silicone, intended for use in mattresses. They have since been banned.

Liberal Democrat Baroness Hussein-Ece has expressed "dismay" at the Harley Medical Group's announcement.

During a debate in the House of Lords yesterday, she said: "This is a group who have ruthlessly advertised, sold and fitted these substandard PIP implants and are now saying they won't replace them. Isn't it time to take action against these unscrupulous, it seems, private practitioners to make them take some responsibility?"

Health minister Earl Howe said: "We believe private practitioners have, in many instances, a legal duty and certainly a moral duty to address these matters on behalf of patients."