Stent price control will save patients Rs 4,450 crore: Govt

NEW DELHI: The price control of stents will result in annual savings of about Rs 4,450 crore for patients, Parliament was informed.

"After the inclusion of coronary stents in the Schedule I of DPCO 2013 on December 21, 2016, the prices were fixed by the NPPA on February 12, 2017, which will result in approximate annual savings of about Rs 4,450 crore to patients," Minister of State for Chemicals Mansukh L Mandaviya said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) had notified the ceiling price of coronary stents at Rs 7,260 for bare metal stent and Rs 29,600 for drug-eluting ones.

The corresponding average MRPs before the notification stood at Rs 45,100 and Rs 1.21 lakh.

"Price regulation has brought down the prices of bare metal stent by 74 per cent and that drug-eluting stents by 85 per cent," the minister said.

In a separate reply, the minister said the NPPA has directed hospitals to issue detailed bills to patients, specifically and separately mentioning cost of the coronary stents along with brand name of manufacturer or importer and other details.

Non-adherence to the rules will be treated as deliberate distortion of evidence along with charges of overpricing inviting prosecution under the Essential Commodities Act, Mandaviya added.

Besides, the government through the NPPA is keeping a tab and has alerted the states and state drug controllers to monitor the availability of stents, he said.

"Industry has been apprised that all manufacturers, importers are under legal obligation to maintain smooth production and supply of coronary stents of all brands which were available in the country before price cap," the minister said.

NPPA already has conducted two rounds of discussions with the stent companies which in turn have promised required level of availability.