 "Price cap on drugs, medical devices helped patients save Rs 150 bn: Govt")
Capping prices of medicines and medical devices, including stents and knee implants, has helped patients save around Rs 150 billion, the government said on Tuesday.
According to the estimates of the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA), patients across the country have saved around Rs 150 billion under the government's initiative of ensuring affordable, quality medicines for all, Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertilisers Mansukh L Mandaviya said in a statement.
The fixation of ceiling prices and MRPs of essential and lifesaving drugs, by implementing the Drug Prices Control Order (DPCO), 2013, has resulted in patients saving over Rs 50 billion since then, he added.
"These savings are in addition to approximately 10 lakh (1 million) heart patients saving around Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion) since fixation of ceiling prices of coronary stents in February 2017, including re-fixation in February 2018 and around 1.5 lakh (150,000) knee patients saving about Rs 2,000 crore (Rs 20 billion) since price fixation of knee implants in August 2017," Mandaviya said.