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.
|