This refers to the editorial, “Making health affordable” (August 18). Although 60 per cent rate cut for knee implants must come as a huge relief for knee patients but the question is whether, for the
patient, the total cost of knee replacement procedure will go down in the same proportion. In February, the Government fixed the rates of bare metal and drug-eluting coronary stents at Rs 7,260 and Rs 29,600 respectively — this was a price cut by nearly 85 per cent in the huge profits
dealers and hospitals have been making on stents. But reports suggest that the hospitals were still finding ways to fleece patients and ‘compensate' for the price cap. For example, by hiking hospitalisation charges as this doesn't come under the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA)'s ambit.
The same may also be the case of knee implants as well. People go to private hospitals because there are not sufficient Government hospitals to cope with the huge population. In this situation, a national healthcare pricing authority needs to be created, replacing the NPPA, to control the prices of not only drugs and medical devices but also of every part of the medical procedures.