The National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority (NPPA) gave a Valentine's Day gift to heart patients by announcing a reduction in the price ceiling on the widely-used drug-eluting stent (DES), which are widely used in heart surgeries. The cost has been brought down by ₹1,710 and the new price is ₹27,890 and these new prices will be valid until March 19, 2019. Prior to this, the NPPA had capped stent prices a year ago to make them affordable to patients.
According to the decision taken by NPPA, the prices of drug-eluting stent (DES) and Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold (BVS) stents have scaled down.
Both DES and BVS stents will now be available for patients at ₹30,018 and these two stents will now be available at only ₹27,890. It is important to say that the use of DES stent is highest for angioplasty. At the same time, the decrease in the cost of these stents will be a major relief for heart patients.
On one hand, the prices of DES and BVS stents have brought down and on
the other hand cost of a coronary stent has been increased by 3 per cent. So, a coronary stent will now be available at ₹7,660, initially, it was ₹7,400.
It is a relief for patients as according to the NPPN rules, the price of the stent was expected to increase by 10 per cent in a year but NPPA increased it only 3 per cent instead of 10 per cent.
To maintain transparency, the NPPA has made it mandatory for the hospitals to create different bills of catheters, stents and balloons and other equipment. This practice will help NPPA to check the prices of the stents.
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