Days after the Government fixed the ceiling prices of coronary stents, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has received written complaints against nearly 30 hospitals, including those in the Government sector, from across the country for overcharging the medical devices.
In most of the cases, the NPPA is awaiting receipt of bill payment copy to take further action in the matter while it has issued notices to a few. On February 13, this year, ceiling prices of drug eluting stents (DES) and the bio-resorable vascular scaffolds (BVS) were fixed at Rs 29,600 and bare metal stents (BMS) at Rs7,260. The agency had appealed the patients to register complaints on its helpline in case of overcharging by hospitals or suppliers and lodge complaints if hospitals refused to provide stents from available stocks.