Medical Devices Profiteering

Out of curiosity I logged on to Amazon.in. The prices of defibrillators given therein are generally in thousands and not in lakhs of rupees. May be the one costing 65 lakhs is something extraordinary. more  

This is the bane of extreme capitalism. Let us not choose it in Lok Sabha elections of 2019 at least. Prices will come down once the economics of the country is put back on the wheels of "Mixed Economy". more  

All import product should be come under scrutiny. A reasonable MRP should be printed on it. more  

Here are some more inputs on CAPPING prices of MEDICAL DEVICES India is set to cap trade margins on medical devices, abandoning the current price control mechanism, as it seeks to curb profiteering as well as allay concerns of device makers, particularly importers of stents and knee implants, who have complained that price caps hurt innovation, two people aware of the matter said. The govt of India is likely to accept think tank NITI Aayog’s recommendation to cap trade margin at 65% for medical devices, the people said on condition of anonymity. According to NITI Aayog’s formula, the maximum retail price (MRP) of a device will be decided by adding the trade margin to the price at the first point of sale (stockist). The trade margin is the difference between the price at which the manufacturers/importers sell to stockists and the price charged to consumers. ., it was decided in a government meeting earlier that trade margins should start from the first point of sale. “Many expenditures are incurred by the importing companies, including clinical education on deployment, and therefore trade margins should start from the first point of sale, that is the stockist," according to NITI Aayog’s consultation paper. Mint has reviewed a copy of the document urrently, 23 medical devices have been notified as drugs and are regulated under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act. Of these, only four—cardiac stents, drug-eluting stents, condoms and intra-uterine devices—are included in the National List of Essential Medicines and are, therefore, subject to notified price caps. Last year, knee implants were brought under price controlunder para 19 of the Drugs (Price Control) Order, 2013. The remaining medical devices are not under any form of price regulation. Once the new mechanism of calculation trade margins is approved, it will be applicable on devices such as cardiac stents and knee implants, prices of which were slashed by as much as 85% using powers under the Drugs Price Control Order, 2013. more  

You can write to NPPA, on this. ( PL SEE the WEBSITE) more