Coronary stents, used in the treatment of blocked arteries for patients in need of angioplasty, have recently come under the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM), and their prices are set to be capped.
However, documents shared by the Alliance of Doctors for Ethical Healthcare, show that the prices of stents are massively inflated, in some cases by nearly five times.
According to a copy of quotations made to a hospital in Ludhiana, a copy of which is available with the
Price quotations from the Boston Scientific range of devices are similarly skewed.
Drug eluting stents from the company, priced in the range of ₹32,000 and ₹70,000, have MRPs between ₹1.5 lakh and ₹1.65 lakh.
The Alliance made a presentation to the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) on Tuesday, asking them to rationalise the prices of stents. The NPPA is expected to cap the prices of stents and announce the new prices soon.
“We made a presentation to the NPPA on Tuesday. They are aware of this anomaly in pricing. We have been assured that by the month end new, rationalised prices of stents would be announced,” said GS Grewal, former President of the Punjab Medical Council and a member of the alliance.
The Alliance seeks a method of price capping, under which profit margins are no more than 20 per cent to the seller.
They are further demanding that import duty and other taxes on stents should be waived to help reduce prices of the life-saving devices.