Rs 11 product slod for Rs 325, Tukaram Mundhe flags huge pricing gap

Maharashtra Food and Drug Administration (FDA) chief Tukaram Mundhe has flagged huge margins on hospital products and medicines, saying patients could be paying hundreds or even thousands of per cent more than the trade price of products used during treatment, without knowing their actual cost. In a social media post, Mundhe, under whom a massive FDA crackdown is underway in the state, said the most expensive part of a hospital bill may never touch the hospital at all."The most expensive part of a hospital bill may never touch the hospital at all. A patient admitted for care has no way of knowing whether the price on a medical consumable reflects its actual cost or a markup fixed long before it ever reached the ward. That gap in information is, at its core, a public health issue," Mundhe wrote. He cited findings from a survey of hospital consumables in Maharashtra, which found significant differences between the trade prices of certain products and their printed maximum retail prices (MRP), resulting in massive markups.The team examined IV sets, syringes, nebuliser oxygen mask, and miscellaneous devices and found mark-ups of up to 29 times the procurement cost on essential inpatient medical devices. Private hospitals bought catheters for Rs 29.41 apiece against an MRP of Rs 310, the survey found. IV infusion sets procured for Rs 11.05 were billed to patients at Rs 325.According to the figures shared by Mundhe, a syringe procured at Rs 6.75 had an MRP of Rs 57.20.

In an August 10 communication to the Department of Pharmaceuticals and the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, Mundhe sought a review of the findings and appropriate regulatory action. The proposals included capping trade margins or placing essential device categories under structured price monitoring, according to the report. In  an extensive market survey conducted by the Maharashtra State Price Monitoring Resource Unit (MSPMRU) under the state Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) to assess pricing patterns of medical devices sold in retail and trade markets. The findings point to what officials describe as unchecked trade-level profiteering. The survey found significant disparities between procurement costs and printed maximum retail prices (MRPs) across several categories of medical devices used in inpatient departments (IPDs). 
He said the MRP is often fixed upstream by manufacturers and distributors and can remain disconnected from the trade price, creating what he described as an “unexplained margin”. “The result is a system where the party bearing the cost has the least information to evaluate it,” Mundhe, under whose remit drug pricing and medicine-related regulation fall as FDA Commissioner, said.
The FDA has been conducting a widespread food safety crackdown across Maharashtra. Several hotels, restaurants, clubs and other facilities have been raided and issued notices, while some have been shut down over violations. The strict enforcement has earned him widespread applause from several quarters.