At the end of your hospitalisation, when you’re presented with an inflated bill, look carefully. Apart from doctors’ charges, medicines and bed cost, the bill would list medical devices like catheters, disposable pressure transducer kits and spinal needles.
You will be charged for the devices at their MRP, but be sure that the hospital buys them at a fraction of that.
DNA in April carried a story on how hospitals make money on syringes this way, drawing as much as Rs24,000 from 100 patients (assuming each used 24 syringes at an MRP of Rs12 each, which the hospital bought at Rs2 each).
Now DNA has a copy of an agreement between a leading corporate chain running over 40 hospitals in the country and a manufacturer, proving the practice.
According to Bejon Misra, chairman, Cell for Consumer Education and Advocacy, the practice occurs across the country, with such discounts and privileges earned by hospitals a carefully guarded secret. “At times, patients don’t even know the MRP (of a particular device),” he says.
Often, hospitals charge more than the MRP for certain devices, but the patient doesn’t come to know of it, says Asha Idnani, chairperson, Council for Fair Business Practices. “Hospitals justify high prices as service charges without proper explanation.”
By not revealing the price at which a product is bought, hospitals are indulging in unfair trade practice, says Uday Wavikar, joint secretary, Consumer Court Bar Association.
“It amounts to breach of trust. It’s an unscrupulous way of extracting money. Patients have a right to know the price at which hospitals buy devices because they are paying for it. If hospitals don’t respond, a case can be filed in consumer court.”
He says hospitals cannot make hidden profits. “Hospitals need to explain whether the object clause of their trust, or memorandum of association of company allows them to indulge in such profit-making activity.
Moreover, if they are selling products on MRP like retailers, they should have a shop and establishment license and should also file returns on sales tax.”
Misra says as device prices are not government controlled, any amount can be fixed as MRP and hospitals stock only expensive brands.
“In case patients or relatives volunteer to buy the products on their own, hospitals don’t allow that,” Idnani says.
According to the National Sample Survey Organisation, the average annual household hospitalisation expenditure in India is about Rs11,000. Emails sent to six top hospitals in the country for comments failed to elicit responses.
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