After the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), the government regulatory agency that controls the prices of pharmaceutical drugs, slashed the prices of stents by 85 per cent and put a cap of Rs 29,000, it has been reported that suppliers withdrew them from hospitals under the pretext of labeling or that hospitals continued to overcharge
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After the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), the government regulatory agency that controls the prices of pharmaceutical drugs, slashed the prices of stents by 85 per cent and put a cap of Rs 29,000, it has been reported that suppliers withdrew them from hospitals under the pretext of labeling or that hospitals continued to overcharge. Now, after kerfuffle over the time it took NPPA to follow up on the 30 complaints it got directly, the FDA has launched its own helpline (022-26592362 for Mumbai and 022-25811988 for Thane) to help patients.
"Any person who has been charged extra on stents can call our joint commissioner at the helpline. The numbers have been connected with the commissioner, so they don’t even have to deal with any call operator," said Harshadeep Kamble, commissioner of FDA.
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After the NPPA rule came into effect on February 14, it was reported that several hospitals were suffering from shortage of stents and some hospitals continued to overcharge patients. NPPA then received 30 complaints from across India, with two from Mumbai against KEM and Lilavati hospitals. However, after receiving complaints, NPPA asks the state drug regulatory body to investigate the matter, often delaying the whole process, hence the direct FDA line.
Meanwhile, though a clean chit is still pending, authorities said there was no wrongdoing detected at the two city hospitals. "After the complaints were forwarded to us, we inspected the hospitals, but couldn’t find any wrongdoing. We are now only waiting to receive the copy of the bills to give the official clean chit," said Kamble.
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