After cardiac stents, govt caps knee implant prices
RELIEF Rates to be 70% less than what most surgeries cost currently
A day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced in his Independence Day speech that prices of knee surgery will be brought down, country’s drug price regulator— National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) — fixed the price of knee implants between ₹54,000 and ₹1.14 lakh, nearly 70% lower than most surgeries cost currently. Goods and Services Tax will be additional.
The price for the commonly used cromium cobalt knee implant that rules about 80% of the market share has been fixed at ₹54,720, which is currently available between ₹l lakh and ₹1.5 lakh. Titanium alloy which comes a close second will now cost ₹67, 110 from the earlier costing between ₹2 lakh and ₹2.5 lakh.
In a detailed order, NPPA has created different slabs based on the implant material and the part of knee that needs replacement.
Cancer patients requiring an implant have been provided major relief, with the costs of specialised implants slashed to ₹1,13,950 from the current over ₹5 lakh and above.
As per estimates, the move is likely to result in savings of ₹1,500 crore annually to patients requiring knee replacement surgeries.
“It has been noticed that orthopedic-knee implants have unjustified, unreasonable and irrational high trade margins leading to exorbitant prices which affects the out-of-pocket expenses of patients and lakhs of patients are not able to pay for arthroplasty procedures… the estimates of such patients requiring arthroplasty intervention, both diagnosed and undiagnosed, is about 1.5 to 2 crore, of which only about 1 lakh well-off patients are in a position to pay for it every year,” an excerpt from the order reads.
“After cardiac stents, we have now decided to bring knee implants under price control,” said Ananth Kumar, minister for chemicals and fertilizer, which NPPA comes under.
“Government will take stringent action against hospitals, importers, retailers if they charge in excess of the MRP,” he added.
Though industry insiders agree there was a need to rationalise implant prices, there is skepticism about how much patients will benefit eventually.
“The implant price, as I see it, will be cheaper by just about 20-25%. There wasn’t a loot going on as it was made out to be, even though there was a need to regulate prices,” said Dr Amit Nath Misra, senior orthopaedic surgeon, Apollo Hospital.
A certain section believes, hospitals will find ways to maintain the profit margin.
“Bringing down the cost of the implant may not necessarily mean the cost of procedure will also come down. Knee replacement procedure isn’t all about the implant cost. There are other costs involved that may go up to maintain a certain profit margin,” said a senior orthopaedic surgeon at a government hospital.