The Maharashtra Food and Drugs Administration has flagged wide price differences in commonly used hospital consumables and asked the Centre to review how these products are priced, bringing fresh scrutiny to the items that patients are often billed for during inpatient treatment without being able to compare costs.
The FDA survey compared the procurement prices paid by private hospitals with the printed maximum retail price or the amount charged to patients for surgical consumables used in inpatient departments. The findings showed significant differences across items including IV infusion sets, syringes, nebuliser mask kits and catheters, according to Mid-Day.
An IV infusion set purchased by a hospital for Rs 11.05 was billed to a patient at Rs 325, a difference of nearly 29 times the procurement cost. A 10ml syringe bought for Rs 6.75 was priced at Rs 57.20. An adult nebuliser mask kit procured for Rs 45 carried an MRP of Rs 652, while a catheter purchased for Rs 29.41 had an MRP of Rs 310.
The figures were cited in a communication from FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe to the Department of Pharmaceuticals and the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority. Mundhe sought an examination of the price variations and suggested regulatory measures, including consideration of trade-margin controls for such products.
The FDA also proposed bringing commonly used medical devices under a structured price-monitoring mechanism. The request places hospital consumables within a wider regulatory question: whether products used during routine inpatient care should be monitored through a framework that allows authorities and patients to assess procurement costs, printed prices and billed amounts more clearly.
Unlike medicines, whose prices patients may sometimes compare across pharmacies, consumables used during hospitalisation are generally selected and billed by the healthcare facility. Patients and their families may have limited ability to negotiate over the product used or the amount charged once a procedure or treatment has begun.
The survey therefore raises questions for both regulators and hospitals about the information made available on patient bills. The FDA’s intervention has called for closer examination of how these products move from procurement to final billing, particularly where the gap between the hospital’s purchase price and the patient-facing amount is substantial.
The Department of Pharmaceuticals and the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority will have to examine the Maharashtra FDA’s communication and its proposals on trade margins and price monitoring. No further regulatory action was specified in the report.
