Telangana government to regulate stent prices

The state government will regulate prices of stents as per the recent order issued by National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority. It warned hospitals and stent manufacturers of severe action if they fleece patients.

Health minister C. Laxma Reddy informed the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday that NPPA has capped prices at Rs 7,260 for a bare metal stent and Rs 29,600 for drug eluting stent.“We have directed TS Drugs Control Administration to implement these orders in toto. The Authority has devised a special action plan to ensure strict implementation by conducting random inspection of hospitals. It has already randomly inspected 36 hospitals. We directed the managements of all hospitals to comply with the NPPA orders," Mr Reddy added.

The minister said that due to stringent norms adopted by the state government, it came to the notice of officials that some stent manufacturers have



stopped supplies while others have withdrawn stents from the market.

“We held talks with manufacturers and warned them against doing so. Notices have been issued to all the hospitals to make available stents for prescribed prices. They were asked to regulate the stent prices strictly,” Mr Reddy said.

The government received complaints that manufacturers were supplying only high-end stents costing over Rs 80,000 making it unaffordable for common man.He said the NPPA issued circular to governments of both the states and TSDCA to take action against any kind of violations by manufacturers, suppliers and hospitals while using stents.

“We have instructed all stakeholders to ensure there is no shortage of stents. We are closely watching the developments and strict action will be initiated for any kind of violations,” Mr Reddy said.