While one hand we talk about decontrolling drug prices , on other hand we are fleecing the patients..We force heart patients requiring stenst to pay 3 times the import price..It is just cheating..The doctors also get a cut in this scam
Patients pay three times import price for stents
Rema Nagarajan,TNN | Sep 15, 2014, 02.43 AM IST
Most patients are forced to pay anything between Rs 60,000 and Rs 1 lakh or more for cardiac drug eluting stents (DES) though the same stents cost Rs 28,000-Rs 48,000 even in rich European countries and the UK.
NEW DELHI: The government has a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to regulate prices of telephony, an electricity regulator to control power prices and so on. But India has no body to ensure that medical device companies do not overcharge patients. The result is loot.
Most patients are forced to pay anything between Rs 60,000 and Rs 1 lakh or more for cardiac drug eluting stents (DES) though the same stents cost Rs 28,000-Rs 48,000 even in rich European countries and the UK, where there is price control or a fair pricing mechanism for medical devices.
As senior doctors pointed out, almost all the over-priced stents are imported and hence the government has the bill of entry giving the price at which the stent is being imported, typically a third of the price charged to patients or even less. Yet, the government has done nothing to stop companies and hospitals from looting patients.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Maharashtra had done a detailed investigation into the overcharging of various medical devices including stents and had submitted the report to the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) over a year back, recommending that medical devices including drug eluting stents be brought under price control. The FDA's report included pricing details of other devices too such as cochlear implant, bone cement and orthopaedic implants and pointed out that the price of most devices was hiked by over 100% at least.
Patients pay three times import price for stents - The Times of India
Patients pay three times import price for stents
Rema Nagarajan,TNN | Sep 15, 2014, 02.43 AM IST
Most patients are forced to pay anything between Rs 60,000 and Rs 1 lakh or more for cardiac drug eluting stents (DES) though the same stents cost Rs 28,000-Rs 48,000 even in rich European countries and the UK.
NEW DELHI: The government has a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to regulate prices of telephony, an electricity regulator to control power prices and so on. But India has no body to ensure that medical device companies do not overcharge patients. The result is loot.
Most patients are forced to pay anything between Rs 60,000 and Rs 1 lakh or more for cardiac drug eluting stents (DES) though the same stents cost Rs 28,000-Rs 48,000 even in rich European countries and the UK, where there is price control or a fair pricing mechanism for medical devices.
As senior doctors pointed out, almost all the over-priced stents are imported and hence the government has the bill of entry giving the price at which the stent is being imported, typically a third of the price charged to patients or even less. Yet, the government has done nothing to stop companies and hospitals from looting patients.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) of Maharashtra had done a detailed investigation into the overcharging of various medical devices including stents and had submitted the report to the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) over a year back, recommending that medical devices including drug eluting stents be brought under price control. The FDA's report included pricing details of other devices too such as cochlear implant, bone cement and orthopaedic implants and pointed out that the price of most devices was hiked by over 100% at least.
Patients pay three times import price for stents - The Times of India
