Maharashtra proposes extra 18 medical tools/equipments to price control regime

Mantralaya/File pic

The Maharashtra government has submitted a report to the Union Health Ministry, seeking the addition of 18 medical tools or equipments in the Drug Price Control Orders (DPCO), an official said here. The Union government last year capped the prices of cardiac stents.

The list submitted by the state includes catheters, orthopaedic implants, stents, intraocular cataract lenses, disposable syringes, IV fluid sets and urine bags among other things, said an official of the state Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The Union Health Ministry has approved the recommendations in principle, the official said. FDA minister Girish Bapat claimed that Union Health Minister too is supportive of the proposal.

"We have been in contact with Union health minister J P Nadda. He is positive about the need to control the prices of these 18 medical equipments," Bapat said. "Some experts in the medical field have raised objections (to the plan), but controlling prices for patients is the primary goal of our government," he said.

Health activist Dr Arun Gadre, who is a member of the Alliance of Doctors for Ethical Healthcare, welcomed the step.

"It was a good start to cap the prices of cardiac stents. Same rule and bar should be applicable to other medical apparatuses and the government should demonstrate its will to control the prices of such apparatuses and equipment," he said.

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