Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda on Wednesday said the government was considering capping prices of other medical devices, after the success with coronary stents.
In February, the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) had capped the price of bare-metal stents at ₹7,260 and drug-eluting stents at ₹29,600, after declaring coronary stents as “essential medicines.”
“Stents have been added to the National List of Essential Medicines and we are trying to put more medical devices in this list to ensure medicines and medical devices remain affordable,” said Mr. Nadda speaking to the press at Indian Women’s Press Corps. This was Mr. Nadda’s first press conference since the Ministry unveiled India’s new National Health Policy in March this year.
Electoral promise
Drug price control has been at the forefront of the Narendra Modi government’s electoral promises, with the Prime Minister telling voters in Uttar Pradesh ahead of the Assembly polls about capping of coronary stent prices earlier this year. However, NITI Aayog, in October 2016, decided to delink the DPCO from the NLEM, and wrest the price control function from the NPPA and vest it with the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP). When asked about the decision to delink NPPA, the Minister said price control would remain with the authority.
