According to the media report, Tata Memorial Hospital was selling the oncology medicine, Sandostatin LAR for Rs 48,296 – a 26 percent discount to the retail price of Rs 65,499. However, during the October-December quarter of 2013 Novartis slashed the price of the injection to Rs 32,000 but the hospital continued to sell the medicine at Rs 48, 296 even though the same vial was available for Rs 32,000 in nearby pharmacies.
The report further states that Tata Memorial has now agreed to repay four cancer patients who were overcharged, the difference in price. Ironically, the hospital takes pride in the fact that the cost of medicines sold in its pharmacies are the lowest available in the market.
"The four are likely to receive Rs 1,33,000, collectively, for seven injections they were overcharged for. The figure is based on the fact that new stock of Sandostatin LAR 20mg will be sold by Tata Memorial at around Rs 29,000, after its discount to the new price of Rs 32,000," the report said.
Recently, a study conducted by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) on cancer medicines found huge price variations among different brands of same medicines sold in the country. The new drug price control order, implemented in May last year, brought 348 medicines under price control. The prices of these were capped at an average of the prices of all drugs with more than one percent market share in their respective segments. But while a drug regulator ensures that MNCs do not inflate medicine costs, there is no regulatory body to ensure that hospitals as well as medical device companies do not do the same.
The Maharashtra specific Clinical Establishment Act, which 2, lists the guidelines to be followed by private hospitals and clinics, has been a topic of debate since 2012 due to its tilt towards patients' rights and the highhanded approach towards clinical establishments. But in May 2014, the the draft of Act was put out on the state government website (www.mahaarogya. gov.in) for a public debate, paving the way for its implementation.
According to this report, one of the clauses in the draft - which is being protested by majority of private hospitals and clinics -- empowers patients to choose their own pharmacists, pathologists and radiologists while hospitalised, while another clause empowers patients to file a compliant against the clinical establishment if they feel their rights have been violated or if they feel they haven't been treated properly, and the impact of the complaint could result in the closure of the clinical establishment.
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