-The Times of India MUMBAI: Prices of essential medicines, including painkillers, anti-infectives, supplements and antibiotics, will go up by over 4%, after the government gave its nod to the increase, in line with the annual Wholesale Price Index (WPI). Hike in prices of Cardiac stents have also been allowed on the basis of WPI at 4.26% for calendar year 2018. The revision in prices of both stents and medicines will come...
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Cardiac stent price cap lowered further to Rs 28,000 -Rema Nagarajan
-The Times of India The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority on Monday revised the price of drug eluting stents (DES) downwards by about Rs 2,300 to just under Rs 28,000, while marginally raising the cap on bare metal stents from Rs 7,400 to Rs 7,660. These caps are excluding GST. With DES accounting for about 95% of all stents used in India, this means most stents will become cheaper. The authority, which had...
More »Stents cheaper, but not all get benefit -Rema Nagarajan
-The Times of India Almost a year after prices of Cardiac stents were capped, an examination of bills from various hospitals shows that the extent to which it has brought down the total cost of an angioplasty depends on which hospital you go to. When the price of stents was capped at Rs 30,000 in February last year, the order had stated that the prices would be reviewed after one year. As...
More »Pharma price controls hurt consumers -Subir Roy
-The Hindu Business Line Public procurement at a negotiated price is a better option. Price curbs deter producers and don’t check pharmacy margins The Government’s attempt to keep the prices of essential medicines affordable and curb the extraordinary returns earned by private healthcare providers through price controls has started an inexorable process whose end does not seem in sight. Will these moves eventually be counter-productive? First came the move to extend the scope...
More »Why NPPA didn't wait for govt to make knee implants 'essential' -Rema Nagarajan
-The Times of India In a first for a medical device, the public interest provision in the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO) 2013 was used by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority to cap the price of knee implants. The NPPA cited "exorbitant prices being charged from patients in a non-regulated market" and "a failed market system where asymmetry of information between patient and the doctor has resulted into unethical practices and...
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