Medical devices should be brought under price control: SJM

New Delhi: The RSS-affiliated SJM has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to immediately bring 19 categories of medical devices such as hip implants which are currently outside price regulation under price control.

In its letter to the prime minister, the Swadeshi Jagran Manch has also said that drug prices regulator National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) is reviewing its decision to cap the prices of stents.

Foreign companies and their industry associations have ramped up their lobbying to undermine price control and demand high prices for their stents in the name of incremental innovation, SJM co-convener Ashwani Mahajan said in the letter.

"Therefore, we request you, to uphold the right to health of Indian people and instruct NPPA not to succumb to the pressure from the foreign stent manufacturers," Mahajan said.

He also demanded that the prices of the remaining 19 categories of devices such as hip implants, heart valves, and intraocular lenses should also be capped.

The letter also talks about hospital overcharging patients.

Although the decision to cap prices of stents has increased access in the one year since its implementation, many large hospitals have increased charges for angioplasty and other costs of ancillary medical devices involved in the procedure, it said.