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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.