No additional charge on stents as rates include 8% margin: Govt

New Delhi: As trade margin of 8 percent is included in the ceiling price of stents, no additional charge except local sales taxes and VAT can be demanded from the patients, government said on Monday.

"It is pertinent to mention that 8 percent maximum margin has been built into the calculation of the ceiling price of the coronary stents", National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) said in a memorandum at its site.

 

No additional charge whatsoever, over and above the ceiling price notified in the price notification of February 13, 2017, shall be charged from the consumer except local sale taxes/ VAT, if paid in actual, it added.

"Considering the high end value market of the coronary stents, this 8 percent trade margin would cover margins across the trade channels working from the level of manufacturer/ importer to end user i.E. Consumers/patient", the regulator said.

The 8 percent margin also adequately covers hospital handling charges, if any, it added.

In a major relief to patients, the government had slashed prices of coronary stents prices of coronary stents by up to 85 percent, capping them at Rs 7,260 for bare metal ones and Rs 29,600 for the drug eluting variety.

The maximum retail price of bare metal stents (BMS) and drug eluting stents (DES) will be Rs 7,623 and Rs 31,080, respectively, inclusive of VAT and other local taxes, Chemical and Fertiliser Minister Ananth Kumar had said.

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.