An injection or a syringe costs around Rs 2 to make, but an average Indian patient buys it at five times the sum. The single-digit 'profit' on an injection may seem trivial till one notes that three billion injections are sold across India annually, revealing that patients as a group are overcharged by billions of rupees each year.

The import price of a popular hip implant is Rs 8,906, but by the time it's marked on a patient's bill, it costs Rs 1.29 lakh, a markup of 1,448%.

These are two examples TOI found after talking to distributors of medical devices a day after the NPPA capped prices of cardiac stents at Rs 29,600 apiece.

NPPA fixed the prices following complaints that patients had to, in some cases, pay over 700 times the import price.......................Read more

Source: The Times of India