Lok Sabha Question No. 2069 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-03-14
Subject: Use of Stents
Ministry: CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS
Asked by: DHANANJAY BHIMRAO MAHADIK, RAJEEV SHANKARRAO SATAV, BHARATENDRA SINGH, HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT, SUPRIYA SADANAND SULE, JOSE K. MANI, JAYAKUMAR JAYAVARDHAN, VIJAYSINH MOHITE PATIL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS

## DEPARTMENT OF PHARMACEUTICALS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 2069

## TO BE ANSWERED ON THE 14 th  March, 2017

## Use of Stents

2069. SHRI DHANANJAY MAHADIK: SHRI SATAV RAJEEV: KUNWAR BHARATENDRA: DR. HEENA VIJAYKUMAR GAVIT: SHRIMATI SUPRIYA SULE: SHRI JOSE K. MANI: DR. J. JAYAVARDHAN: SHRI MOHITE PATIL VIJAYSINH SHANKARRAO:

Will the Minister of CHEMICALS AND FERTILIZERS be pleased to state:

- (a) the number of stent used/sold for angioplasty operations in the country during the last three years;
- (b)  whether  patients  are  charged  inordinately  high  amount  for the stent device and if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  whether  the  National  Pharmaceutical  Pricing  Authority  has made it mandatory for hospitals, nursing homes and clinics to disclose  separately  the  cost  of  the  stent  while  billing  a  patient and if so, the details thereof;
- (d) whether the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority has decided  to  cap  the  price  of  life  saving  coronary  stent  at  Rs. 30,000 and if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the other steps taken by the Government to provide stents at affordable price to patients?

## ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR CHEMICALS & FERTILIZERS, ROAD TRANSPORT  &  HIGHWAYS  AND  SHIPPING  (SHRI  MANSUKH  L. MANDAVIYA)

- (a): A Sub Committee constituted under Core Committee of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to study the essentiality of coronary stents has assessed the number of coronary interventions during the last three years as follows:

| Year                             |   2013 |   2014 |   2015 |
|----------------------------------|--------|--------|--------|
| Number of Coronary Interventions | 201817 | 248152 | 353346 |

(b)  &  (d):  National  Pharmaceutical  Pricing  Authority  (NPPA)  notified  the ceiling price of Coronary Stents vide its notification dated 13 th  February 2017 at INR 7,260 for Bare Metal Stent and INR 29,600 for Drug Eluting Stents (DES)  including  metallic  DES  and  Bioresorbable  Vascular  Scaffold  (BVS)/ Biodegradable  Stents.  The  average  MRP  before  this  notification  was  INR 45,100 for Bare Metal Stent (BMS) and INR 121,400 for Drug Eluting Stent (DES). Price regulation has brought down the prices of stents (BMS 74% and DES 85%).

(c):  NPPA  has  directed  hospitals  to  issue  detailed  bills  to  the  patients, specifically and separately mentioning the cost of the Coronary Stent along with the brand name of the manufacturer/importer/batch number and other details.  Non-compliance  thereof  will  be  treated  as  deliberate  distortion  of evidence  alongwith  charges  of  overpricing  inviting  prosecution  under  the Essential Commodities Act.

(e): Government through NPPA is closely monitoring the situation and has alerted the State Governments and State Drugs Controllers to monitor the availability  of  stents.  NPPA  has  also  requested  aggrieved  persons  to  send verifiable  information  /  complaints  on  help  line  number  of  NPPA,  through online  complaint  mechanism  (Pharma  Jan  Samadhan)  or  on  Whatsapp. Industry has been apprised that all manufactures / importers are under legal obligation to maintain smooth production and supply of coronary stents of all brands  which  were  available  in  the  country  before  price  cap.  All  State Governments and State Drug Controllers have been advised to exercise the power of  entry,  search  and  seizure  as  per  Para  30  of  Drugs  Price  Control Order  (DPCO),2013  if  manufacturers/importers/distributors  try  to  create artificial shortage of stents. Government/NPPA had two rounds of discussions with  the  Stent  companies,  which  in  turn  have  promised  required  level  of availability.

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