NPPA sends show cause notices to hospitals over stent overpricing allegations
NEW DELHI: The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has sent notices to some hospitals in the country asking them to respond to allegations that they are charging heart patients higher prices on cardiac stents than allowed. Prices of stents have been slashed by up to 85 per cent after NPPA capped the most widely used categories of the devices at Rs29,600 on February 14.
NPPA has sent a show cause notice to Max Hospital in Saket, Delhi and Nidaan Multispecialty Hospital in Sonepat, Haryana, as part of its ongoing probe against hospitals allegedly overcharging patients for the devices despite the price caps. Max Hospital in Saket is owned and operated by Max Healthcare Institute Ltd, a subsidiary of Max India Limited.
These show cause notices have been sent after preliminary investigations into these allegations, the regulator disclosed on its official account on social media networking platform Twitter.
The hospitals have a week to respond to the notices, a senior government official told ET on condition of anonymity. If the responses are not satisfactory and the allegations confirmed, the government would move to recover the amount they have overcharged on these stents, the official said.
"We have not overcharged even a single patient for stent. We have complied fully and immediately with the NPPA order on the stent pricing," Max Healthcare authorities said in response to the allegations. "We are positive that we will be able to demonstrate our compliance to NPPA order on the ceiling price of coronary stent," they added.
Cardiac stents are wire mesh tube devices used to clear blockages in the arteries that carry blood to the heart. These devices are used to prevent heart attacks.
NPPA has put some of the country’s renowned hospitals under the scanner for allegedly overcharging patients on cardiac stents. The body earlier stated that it was investigating overpricing complaints against hospitals like Max in Saket, Lilavati in Mumbai and Metro Hospital in Faridabad.
NPPA reportedly received these complaints through its helpline.
"There is no truth in these allegations. We have been charging as per NPPA’s guidelines," Metro Hospital Faridabad managing director Shyam Sunder Bansal told ET. He said that the hospital has not received any show cause notices as of yet, but would be ready to give any information necessary in case they do.
Emails and phone calls to Nidaan Multispecialty Hospital did not elicit a response and Lilavati Hospital did not respond to ET’s emailed queries either.
NPPA has so far not received complaints of stent shortages in hospitals, but has mandated companies, distributors and hospitals to maintain supply of all of the stent brands they supplied to patients before NPPA capped their prices.
It also said companies couldn’t refuse to supply certain previously high priced brands to hospitals, while hospitals couldn’t refuse patients a stent brand that they used to stock before the NPPA’s ceiling price notification.
In case of violations, the body said it may be forced to invoke provisions of legal prosecution under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, apart from other provisions under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013.
NPPA has sent a show cause notice to Max Hospital in Saket, Delhi and Nidaan Multispecialty Hospital in Sonepat, Haryana, as part of its ongoing probe against hospitals allegedly overcharging patients for the devices despite the price caps. Max Hospital in Saket is owned and operated by Max Healthcare Institute Ltd, a subsidiary of Max India Limited.
These show cause notices have been sent after preliminary investigations into these allegations, the regulator disclosed on its official account on social media networking platform Twitter.
The hospitals have a week to respond to the notices, a senior government official told ET on condition of anonymity. If the responses are not satisfactory and the allegations confirmed, the government would move to recover the amount they have overcharged on these stents, the official said.
"We have not overcharged even a single patient for stent. We have complied fully and immediately with the NPPA order on the stent pricing," Max Healthcare authorities said in response to the allegations. "We are positive that we will be able to demonstrate our compliance to NPPA order on the ceiling price of coronary stent," they added.
Cardiac stents are wire mesh tube devices used to clear blockages in the arteries that carry blood to the heart. These devices are used to prevent heart attacks.
NPPA has put some of the country’s renowned hospitals under the scanner for allegedly overcharging patients on cardiac stents. The body earlier stated that it was investigating overpricing complaints against hospitals like Max in Saket, Lilavati in Mumbai and Metro Hospital in Faridabad.
NPPA reportedly received these complaints through its helpline.
"There is no truth in these allegations. We have been charging as per NPPA’s guidelines," Metro Hospital Faridabad managing director Shyam Sunder Bansal told ET. He said that the hospital has not received any show cause notices as of yet, but would be ready to give any information necessary in case they do.
Emails and phone calls to Nidaan Multispecialty Hospital did not elicit a response and Lilavati Hospital did not respond to ET’s emailed queries either.
NPPA has so far not received complaints of stent shortages in hospitals, but has mandated companies, distributors and hospitals to maintain supply of all of the stent brands they supplied to patients before NPPA capped their prices.
It also said companies couldn’t refuse to supply certain previously high priced brands to hospitals, while hospitals couldn’t refuse patients a stent brand that they used to stock before the NPPA’s ceiling price notification.
In case of violations, the body said it may be forced to invoke provisions of legal prosecution under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955, apart from other provisions under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013.
