Union government will soon issue regulations to ensure affordable healthcare is available for all. To begin with there will be regular monitoring of coronary stent prices and any increase in the cost of procedure, doctor’s fee and prolong the patients’ stay in hospitals and also ensure that price reduction is passed on to patients. The excess cost charged by the hospitals will have to be returned to the patients at an interest rate of 15 per cent, said Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers and Parliamentary Affairs, Ananth Kumar.
"To protect the interest of public, only very stringent laws will be required. Violations or deviations by manufacturers and hospitals from the defined norm will attract cancellation of respective licenses and will be subjected to criminal charges, said the minister while addressing hospitals heads in Karnataka.
The move to cap prices of stent is as per Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of affordable, quality healthcare for all. “We have now notified the ceiling prices of coronary stents, which brings down its by about 85 per cent”, he added.
“Also the manufacturers should continue manufacturing in large volumes they have been in the last three years. There should not be reducing the production of stents as an aftermath of this regulation brought about by the Government,” he said.
Ceiling prices of Bare Metal Stents (BMS), with 10 per cent market share, are capped at Rs.7,260 and drug eluting stents (DES), having 90 per cent market share are at Rs.29,600. These prices are exclusive of VAT and other local taxes. Since most States have 5 per cent VAT on stents, the MRP of BMS and DES would be Rs.7,623 and Rs.31,080. National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has fixed the prices within 60 days as required, he informed.
Informing that the step is a major decisive action on the unethical margins charged at each stage in the supply chain of coronary stents, the Minister stated that the new prices are not likely to make much adverse impact on industry. The average MRP in the market for BMS was Rs.45,000 and for DES Rs.121,000. This is reduced to Rs.7,623 for BMS and Rs.31,080 for DES. Now patients will get an average benefit of Rs.80,000 to Rs.90,000 per stent resulting into a gross relief of Rs.4,450 crore in one year.
The decision to cap prices of coronary stent came in after NPPA's consultations with manufacturers, importers, hospital and distributor associations, doctors, NGOs and other civil society members. All the data provided by industry was put on NPPA website and major options for price fixation was on the public domain for consultation. The new ceiling prices decided by the government has taken into account interests of all the stakeholders, he said.
In India 25 per cent of fatality is reported due to cardiovascular diseases (CAD). Of these, 90-95 per cent are due to coronary artery diseases. National Commission on Macroeconomics and Health pegs India’s CAD prevalence at 61.5 million as per 2015 report. In 2015, according to health ministry over 3.5 lakh procedures were done which used 4.73 lakh stents. In 2016, cardiac stent usage must have been above 5 lakh, he said.
New ceiling prices will promote Make in India in a big way. Following the huge patient pool and future requirement, foreign companies will also try to Make in India to cut cost and remain competitive. Presently market size of Indian made stents is roughly 30 per cent, he said.