Mumbai: Eight prominent city hospitals have been pulled up by the State government for not adhering to the law and changing prices of packaged commodities and medical equipment to be used for patients.
Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Minister Girish Bapat said in the Legislative Council on Thursday that inspections were conducted at Bhandup’s Fortis Hospital, Breach Candy, Lilavati Hospital, Kokilaben Dhirubhai Hospital, Asian Heart Institute, Global Hospital in Parel, Dr. LH Hiranandani Hospital in Powai and Sir HN Hospital (Reliance Foundation) in January. “Cases have been filed against these hospitals for erasing the original price of the packaged commodities, changing prices, not displaying the information and disclaimers on packages correctly.”
As per the Legal Metrology Act, 2009 and Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Act, 2011 medical equipment and other instruments must contain all information such as name and address of the producer, packager or importer, instrument name, weight, maximum retail price, month and year of production, packaging or import and contact details of person responsible for customer complaints on its package.
Mr. Bapat said it was observed during the inspections that while stents used in heart surgeries carry all information as per the 2009 Act, they were priced at anything between ₹1.09 lakh to ₹1.5 lakh. “While certain hospitals had been purchasing stents from the distributor in the range of ₹50,000 to ₹90,000, the retail price was around ₹1.35 lakh.”
He added, “Hospitals charging exorbitant prices from patients will not be spared. The Act has a provision for imprisonment up to seven years, and social organisations will be roped in along with contractual workers to stop such practices,” he said.
