Stent prices to be capped at Rs. 28,000 | Fusion - WeRIndia

The government is ready to cap the prices of coronary or cardiac stents. The final decision of the government will be taken by the end of January. The proposal to cap the prices of stents has been in pending since a long time even though many key ministries like health and commerce along with department of pharmaceuticals have given strong support.

The proposal is finally at final stages and is set to receive approval from a core committee on essential medicines. If the approval is granted, the maximum retail price (MRP) of the bare metal coronary stents will be capped around Rs. 20,000. The drug eluting stents may be priced around at Rs. 28,000.

At present, the bare metal stents are priced from Rs. 12,000 to Rs. 20,000 in the local market. However, the drug eluting stents are priced between Rs. 23,000 and Rs. 120,000 based on the product specifications.

According to a senior official at the drug regulator’s office, the committee has come up with a revised list of essential medicines based on the core-committee’s recommendations. They are also set to examine the issue of coronary stents and come up with a supplementary report very soon.

The official further stated that the proposal to cap stent prices has been on hold for a long time which create pressure to make a separate law for medical devices. However, the health ministry has created a separate chapter under the Drugs and Cosmetics Bill, 2015. The bill classifies medical devices based on their use in primary, secondary and tertiary care.

Since few years, many patients’ organizations, political parties as well as government departments have raised concern over the high price of stents. Even NPPA talked about the huge difference between the price of imported stents and locally manufactured ones. In India, 70-80% of medical devices like stents are imported.

Image Credit: Photo by jesse orrico on Unsplash (Free for commercial use)

Image Reference: https://unsplash.com/photos/Us3AQvyOP-o