By Shalini Bhardwaj
New Delhi [India], September 19 : The Centre has started discussions with the medical sector and private hospitals on trade margin rationalisation for medical devices.
Sources told ANI, "Union Minister of Health and Chemical Fertilisers JP Nadda, after a key meeting with the Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, has directed to hold meetings and discussions with the medical sector and hospitals on high markups in hospital consumables after the FDA Commissioner flagged gaps between trade prices and MRPs for hospital items."
Recently, in an interview to ANI on drug pricing regulation and healthcare accessibility, CEO of Multani Pharmaceuticals Dr Vivek Srivastava said that health is not confined to any particular session its for all, "The central government has already started working on it through the Drug Prices Control Order (DPCO), bringing them under the DPCO bracket to provide them at a much cheaper cost. There must be a systematic mechanism to ensure periodic reconciliation... Healthcare is not confined to any particular section of the population; it is a fundamental right for everyone."
On drug pricing regulation, President of AIIMS (Kalyani) Dr YK Gupta showed concern and said, "I chaired the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) committee. Drugs included in the NLEM automatically fall under scheduled medicines, and their prices are regulated. However, there are non-scheduled drugs whose prices pharmaceutical companies can set as per their convenience, subject to MRP approval. Similarly, effective price control is lacking for many medical consumables and devices, such as syringes and gloves. Consequently, there is a multifarious variation between production cost, cost to the hospital, and the final price charged to the patient."
He further said, "Our objective is to protect patients from exploitation without compromising on quality. It is acceptable for hospitals to make a reasonable profit, but unnecessary profiteering and excessive markup are unethical. Patients are often vulnerable and compelled to pay whatever is charged. Studies conducted by us revealed a 10-fold to 20-fold price variation for identical items compared to their market MRP. Such practices must be effectively contained..."
Earlier in August, the Parliamentary Committee on Health also recommended a price cap on private hospitals' treatments.