Once the stents come under the ambit of PC Rules, the Legal Metrology Organisation across the country can take action against the sellers if they sell the stents beyond the MRP
Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution is all set to make amendments to bring stents used for angioplasty under the ambit of the Packaged Commodities Act which are governed by the Legal Metrology Act. Once the stents come under the ambit of PC Rules, the Legal Metrology Organisation (LMO) across the country can take action against the sellers if they sell the stents beyond the maximum retail price (MRP). Until now, stents were exempted from the PCA.
"The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) recently fixed the MRP for stents after issuing a government notification. Once the stents are brought under the purview of PC Act, nobody will be able to overcharge. If anybody is found overcharging, they can be straightaway booked under the PC Act," said Amitabh Gupta, Additional Director General of Police and Controller of LMO.
"At the moment, certain commodities such as medical devices are exempted from PC Rules. Efforts are on to remove those exemptions for stents. NPPA has capped the price of stents, and all the declarations, including MRP, will mandatorily appear on the packaged commodities. It will be brought under the ambit of packaged commodities. Maybe in a month or two, we will be able to amend the rules," PV Rama Sastry, Joint Secretary, Consumer Affairs, told DNA.
Surprisingly, in the initial draft of NPPA, the final price of stents was pegged at Rs 67,000. The NPPA in its final notification, issued a couple of days ago, has fixed the price at Rs 29,600 plus a five per cent Value Added Tax (VAT).
"Until now, we were taking action to ascertain whether a dual MRP was involved in the selling of stents. An importer of stents has told us that a lot of hospitals in Mumbai have returned their stocks. The importer also told us that they need some time to change the packaging of stents," said an LMO official, requesting anonymity.
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