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Gujarat FDCA to step up its vigilance on cardiac centres for overcharging coronary stents
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Shardul Nautiyal, Mumbai
March 30 , 2017
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Gujarat Food and Drug Control Administration (FDA) is planning to survey
60 cardiac centres across the state to check price compliance at the
point of care.
“The survey which is scheduled to conclude by
next week will check whether hospitals and cardiac centres across the
state are complying to ceiling price norms stipulated as per the order
so that patients are not overcharged,” explains Gujarat FDCA
commissioner Dr HG Koshia.
On February 14, 2017, NPPA announced cut in prices of coronary stents by up to 85% by capping them at Rs.7,260 for bare metal ones and Rs.29,600
for drug eluting variety.The step was taken to fix a standardised
specification of stent and its MRP to stop fleecing patients.
Since
then the official Twitter handle of NPPA has been receiving complaints
from hospitals across the country. On February 26, 2017 itself, the
official Twitter handle of NPPA tweeted that a complaint was received
against Anand Hospital (Meerut), Uttar Pradesh and Mumbai’s KEM
Hospital. Prior to this, complaints were received against Bharat Heart
Institute (Dehradun), Uttarakhand, Oxygen Hospital (Rohtak), Haryana,
Max Hospital Saket, New Delhi, Nidaan Multispecialty Hospital (Sonepat),
Haryana and Lilavati Hospital, Mumbai. New Delhi’s Max Hospital and
Nidaan Multispecialty Hospital from Haryana.
Post this, NPPA has
directed hospitals/nursing homes/clinics utilizing coronary stents shall
specifically and separately mention the cost of the coronary stent
along with its brand name, name of the manufacturer/importer/batch
number. and other details, if any, in their billing to the patients or
their representatives.
Non-compliance of these instructions shall
be treated as deliberated distortion of evidence along with charges of
overpricing. Such cases may also be taken up for prosecution under
Essential Commodities (EC) Act, as per NPPA notice.
Maharashtra
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in its verification reports have
recently ascertained that no hospital in Mumbai, Pune and Nashik were
found violating the ceiling prices for cardiac stents as stipulated by
the drug pricing regulator National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority
(NPPA).
The state regulator had stepped up its vigilance as a
part of its larger plan to detect overpricing of stents in government
and private hospitals subsequent to NPPA receiving complaints about
stents being sold at higher prices at KEM Hospital, Lilavati Hospital
and a few hospitals in Pune and Nashik.
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