Welcoming the Centre's decision to slash prices of coronary stents by up to 400 per cent, the Asian Heart Institute today said the move will boost innovation in the indigenous industry.
"Affordable healthcare has been the bane of the robust democracy that we are. Hence, my first instinct is to welcome this move. This move brings a major relief to lakhs of cardiac patients by capping stent prices," Ramakanta Panda, cardiovascular thoracic surgeon and Vice-Chairman, Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai said in a statement here.
He said though medical care in India is one of the cheapest in the world, lower earning capacity and high cost of catastrophic illnesses make it beyond the reach of vast majority of Indians.
"I see a great opportunity for indigenous stent industry to come out with innovation for better quality affordable stents. Hopefully, soon we will find a solution to provide cheaper stents without killing investment and innovation," he said.
The Government on February 14 reduced prices of coronary stents by up to 400 per cent, capping them at Rs 7,260 for bare metal ones and Rs 29,600 for the drug eluting variety.
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) in a notification said in public interest, it has fixed the ceiling price of bare metal stents at 7,260 and that of drug eluting stents and bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BVS)/biodegradable stents at Rs 29,600.
A coronary stent is a tube-shaped device placed in the arteries that supply blood to the heart. It keeps the arteries open in the treatment of coronary heart diseases.
The maximum retail cost of a stent currently ranges from Rs 25,000 to Rs 1.98 lakh.
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