Stent price: Govt cracks down on erring hospitals

In a major crackdown against leading government and private hospitals overcharging for stents, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has initiated inquiry against the hospitals, asking the state drug controllers to intervene.

Citing that complaints have been received against hospitals like PGI Chandigarh, Lilavati Hospital Mumbai, Max Saket, Delhi; Metro Hospital, Faridabad; Ram Murti Hospital, Bareilly, the NPPA has started its investigation and alerted the state drug controllers. “The NPPA is investigating overpricing complaints against hospitals. Concerned state drug controllers have been alerted. The name of companies and other details are the part of examination,” the NPPA tweeted late on Thursday.

The government had recently cut prices of life saving coronary stents by up tp 85 per cent by capping them at `7,260 for bare metal ones and `29,600 for drug eluting variety.

Earlier, the average maximum retail proce for BMS was `45,000 and DES was `1.21 lakh.

While the government had asked companies to change the MRP of the existing stock, complaints about overcharging of stents has become the major cause of concern.

In case of serious violations of the ceiling prices, the NPPA has the authority to recover the overcharged amount along with 15 per cent interest. It can also take criminal action and invoke provisions of essential commodities Act and can even cancel the licence.

According to the government report, more than 3.5 lakh procedures were done in 2015, amounting to approximately 4.75 stents.