Stop the price scam in our hospitals

Most patients in India have virtually no say in their medical treatments. Yet, they shoulder the entire financial burden, frequently paying prices vastly disconnected from actual wholesale costs. A recent Maharashtra FDA survey across the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar revealed staggering price inflation. An IV infusion set bought for ₹11.05 was billed at an MRP of ₹325; a ₹6.75 syringe was listed at ₹57.20; and a ₹29.41 catheter cost ₹310. Uncovering markups as high as 2,841%, the regulator requested guidelines from National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) on acceptable price gaps.

In 2018, an NPPA review of hospital bills found that consumables made up nearly 1/10th of total patient costs, more than double the expenditure on scheduled essential drugs. NPPA flagged profit margins on non-scheduled items like cannulae and catheters as exorbitant, noting that in-house hospital pharmacies trapped patients without alternatives. Crucially, it acknowledged that such medical disposables fell outside its price-control mandate. After the FDA report, Association of Indian Medical Device Industry (AiMeD) said the findings highlighted the need for a separate pricing policy for medical devices.

The core issue isn't producing another report confirming that medical supplies are overpriced. It is actionable intervention. Instead of relying on sporadic media exposes, or isolated state- level surveys, the government should establish an independent regulator to systematically sample hospital bills across regions and procedures. This body would compare procurement costs against billed MRPs, highlight egregious outliers, publish anonymised data, and separate legitimate operational overheads from predatory markups.