Hospital Consumables Face Huge Mark-Ups in Maharashtra
Maharashtra FDA survey finds medical devices sold at several times procurement costs, seeks tighter price regulation
- An IV set costing ₹11.05 was sold with an MRP of ₹325, showing a 2,841% margin.
- A 10 ml syringe purchased for ₹6.75 was sold for ₹57.20.
- An IV cannula costing ₹22.50 was reportedly sold for ₹424.
- Maharashtra FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe has urged the Centre to regulate prices and trade margins.
GG News Bureau
Mumbai, 16th Sept: The Maharashtra State Price Monitoring Resource Unit (MSPMRU), under the state Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), has found significant price disparities between procurement costs and selling prices of commonly used medical devices.
The survey examined IV sets, syringes, nebuliser and oxygen masks and other medical consumables used in inpatient departments (IPDs). The findings showed mark-ups ranging from several hundred per cent to more than 2,800 per cent in some cases.
The Medifusion IV set manufactured by Mediplus Haryana had a reported purchase price of ₹11.05 against an MRP of ₹325, resulting in a realised margin of 2,841 per cent. IV sets manufactured by Lyvofusion were also found to have margins of 2,091 per cent.
In the syringe category, a 10 ml syringe manufactured by Lifelong Meditech, Delhi, was purchased for ₹6.75 and sold for ₹57.20, representing a 747 per cent mark-up. Romson-manufactured needles were reportedly sold at around three times their procurement price.
The survey also found substantial differences in the prices of nebuliser and oxygen-mask products. An adult nebuliser mask kit manufactured by Vinjoh Healthcare, priced at ₹45, was reportedly sold to patients for ₹652. A nebuliser mask costing ₹40 was cited as being billed at ₹715.
An IV cannula purchased for ₹22.50 was reportedly sold for ₹424, while a Ribbel-manufactured catheter costing ₹29.41 was sold at more than 10 times its procurement price.
Maharashtra FDA Commissioner Tukaram Mundhe has described the price escalation as “irrational and unjustified” and called for a review of the pricing of commonly used hospital consumables.
In a letter to the Secretary of the Department of Pharmaceuticals, Mundhe argued that procurement costs already cover expenses including production, product development, marketing, distribution and profit margins.
He also pointed to the limited bargaining power of hospitalised patients, who require such consumables during treatment and may have little scope to negotiate prices.
Mundhe has urged the Centre to consider bringing commonly used inpatient surgical consumables under the regulatory ambit of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order (DPCO), 2013.
He further suggested an inter-agency review and measures such as trade-margin caps and stronger monitoring mechanisms to address excessive mark-ups in the medical-device supply chain.
