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life and keep nothing in markets ? Confusion and fights in every hospital of what should be charged ?
One of the Indian Stent Manufacturers , Mr Gurmeet Chugh , Managing Director , Translumina Therapeutics , calls the move populist and that it will ultimately kill the
ecosystem where Indian manufacturers shall keep manufacturing , only low end technologies . He says , “ This MRP is detrimental for the domestic Stent manufacturers and may kill this upcoming Industry . We had asked for average of price to hospital . We are sure that the price points taken for imports and manufacturing are erroneous . The price of imported component is not price of complete assembled product .
The self-regulation could have prevented govt ’ s intervention
Many experts feel that the industry didn ’ t pay attention towards self-regulation or show empathy towards patients by few actions on ensuring affordability . “ Had they self-regulated their product prices in consultation with hospitals , this situation would have not arisen . Instead they indulged in profiteering and big margins while enjoying monopoly over the market ,” said a market research analyst based in Mumbai .
AiMeD says it has always been exhorting members and importers for self-regulations whether for patients safety under ICMED quality certification or for consumer protection , a self-imposed price cap for each brand / size to be 4-5 times of ex-factory landed . It says the MNCs have been resisting it . On the other side , MNCs are yet to make any official ststement on self-regulation .
Morever , the requirement of all stocks in market to be sold at revised price is impractical and unreasonable .”
The multinational medical technology firms in the country have expressed strong displeasure on the NPPA ’ s latest notification putting a price cap on the coronary stents . The industry associations representing them feel that the decision disregards the evolution of coronary stents over the last four decades , and blocking innovation may set our healthcare sector back by at least a decade , when there were far lesser options for Indian patients . They believe that there is a clear , measurable difference between different types of stents and their benefits . They had expected the government to have taken this categorization into consideration before regulating prices .
In a statement , the AdvaMed and its members expressed disappointment with the NPPA ’ s notification on ceiling price for coronary stents . “ This notification completely disregards all stakeholders representations on the need to differentiate stents , based on their technological
20 BioVoiceNews | March 2017