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The Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has initiated surprise checks on private hospitals across the state to inspect whether the pricing policy for knee implants is being adhered to. On Monday, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) held inspections of websites of 21 hospitals in Delhi to ensure if they displayed the revised pricing of knee implants. The NPPA, which started a helpline from August 16 to register complaints by patients against over-pricing, has not received any complaint so far. “Instructions have been issued to states to check for compliance of knee-implant pricing,” said NPPA chairman Bhupendra Singh.
In Maharashtra, FDA commissioner Pallavi Darade confirmed that instructions have been issued to all joint commissioners to inspect hospitals. “We also have a state helpline for patients to approach for food or drug related complaints. Joint commissioners will randomly inspect private hospitals to check whether revised prices of knee implants are being followed,” she said.
The centre has revised the cost of a general knee implant to Rs 54,720, a 65 per cent cut from Rs 1.58 lakh. Cost of revision surgery has been cut down to Rs 1.13 lakh from Rs 2.75 to 6 lakh, while that of specialised implants have been priced at Rs 1.13 lakh as opposed to earlier prices that touched a maximum of Rs 9 lakh. Meanwhile, the Thane FDA on Monday conducted four simultaneous raids in Bhayander where orthopedic implants worth Rs 50 lakh manufactured without license were seized. The FDA seized implants worth Rs 10 lakh from Aarogya Enterprise, Rs 8.5 lakh implants were seized from Mark Surgical, from Partha Orthopedic Engineering, a stock of Rs 23 lakh was seized and from Satyam Goud, implants worth Rs 8.5 lakh were seized.
The raid was commissioned under joint commissioner and assistant commissioner of Thane. “We are investigating who the implants were sold to,” said joint commissioner of Konkan division, Viraj Paunikar. The four manufacturing units raided had titanium rods, plates, nails and screws used routinely for orthopedic implants, including knee surgeries. The orthopedic implants were locally manufactured.
FDA officials believe they may be locally sold to small private hospitals without license. The FDA is yet to file a first information report. “We will prosecute the manufacturers under Drugs and Cosmetics Act for not procuring a valid license to manufacture medical devices,” Paunikar added.
