In a press brief to the media on Wednesday, 1 April, the government announced the start of a price cap on essential medical devices.
Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MOHFW) said,
“The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) issued a notification which said that from 1 April, all 24 classes of medical devices will be regulated as drugs for quality control and price monitoring under the Drug (Price Control) Order of 2013.”
Under this order, medical devices manufacturers can “only increase the MRP of these items by 10 per cent of the previous 12 months,” Agarwal clarified.
He added that such a step was “essential to ensure price control of related drugs and medical devices.”
In a public health crisis, accessible and affordable medical products - from medicines and drugs to equipment and testing - are vital to ensure public health safety for all sections of society.
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