The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has received more complaints against major hospitals across the country for overcharging of coronary stents whose prices were capped by the national drug price regulator. Ever since it has fixed the ceiling prices of stents on February 14, 2017, the drug price regulator has so far received 40 written complaints against major hospitals.
Earlier on February 13, 2017, the NPPA had issued a notification fixing the ceiling prices of stents. Under the notification, it had fixed the ceiling price of drug eluting stents (DES) and bioresorbable stents at Rs. 29,600 and that of bare metal stents at Rs. 7,260. The fixed ceiling prices were to be effective from February 14, 2017. The notification had stated that institutions such as hospitals, nursing homes and clinics utilizing coronary stents shall specifically and separately mention the cost of the coronary stents 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.
The prominent hospitals against whom complaints were received by the NPPA include: Max Hospital, Saket, New Delhi; Metro Hospital, Sec-15, Faridabad; St. Philomenas Hospital, Vivek Nagar, Bengaluru, Karnataka; PGI Hospital, Chandigarh; Lilawati Hospital, Mumbai; QRG Central Hospital & Research Centre Ltd, Faridabad; Oxygen Hospital, Rohtak; Bharat Heart Institute, Dehradun; Nidan Hospital, Sonipat; Six Sigma Medicare & Research Ltd, Nasik, Maharashtra; Healing Touch Hospital, Ambala; King Edward Hospital, Parel, Mumbai, Maharashtra; Anand Hospital, Meerut; and Caurvey Hospital, Siddartha Layout, Near Teresian Collage, Mysuru, Karnataka.
The list also includes the names like Global Hospital, Link Road, Jalandhar; Metro Heart Institute with Multispecialty, Sec-16A, Faridabad, Haryana; Agarwal Nursing Home, Haryana; Allahabad Heart Centre, Kamla Nehru Rd, Civil Lines Allahabad U.P.; K.E.M Hospital Acharya Donde Marg, Parel Mumbai; Sun Medical and Research Centre, ST Nagar, Kannamkulangara, Thrissur, Kerela; BIMR Hospital, Gwalior, M.P.;Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital Baba Kharak Singh Marg, New Delhi; B.L.K Super Speciality Hospital, Pusa Road, Rajinder Nagar, New Delhi; Bhaktivedanta Hospital Srishti Complex, Sec-01, Bhaktivedanta Swami Marg, Mira Road East, Thana, Maharashtra; Pune Hospital and Research Centre 27, LB Shastri Road, Sadashiv, Peth, Near Alka Theatre, Pune; Delhi Heart Institute and Multispeciality Hospital Goniana Road, Bathinda, Punjab; Yenepoya Speciality Hospital Kodialbail, Mangaluru, Karanataka; Medanta The Medicity, Sec-38, Gurgaon, Haryana; Asian Institute of Gastrology; Capitol Hospital Jalander Pathankot Road, NH-44,Near Reru Chowk Jalander, Punjab; Narayan Hospital and Trauma Centre Near Ark Hotel, Bilaspur Road, Rudrapur Uttarakhand; Fortis Escorts Hearts Institute Okhla Road, New Friends Colony, New Delhi; Vivekananda General Hospital, Deshpande Nagar, Hubbali, Karnataka; and Sarvodaya Hospital YMCA Road, Sec-08, Near ESI Hospital, Faridabad Haryana.
According to NPPA sources, several hospitals across the country, including prominent ones, have been found flouting the NPPA directive as it was observed from the bill copies received along the with the complaints from the patients and complainants that hospitals are not complying with the instructions specified in the NPPA notification.