Government eyeing to halve coronary stent prices

The Directorate General of Drug Administration (DGDA) has said the price of coronary stents can be brought down to half its current price, reports Bangla Tribune. The comments come on the back of a strike by Medical Accessories Suppliers for a day (April 19), the day after the country’s drug regulator formed a committee on April 18, temporarily setting the maximum retail prices for 28 kinds of stents. The regulator temporarily asked importers to keep the price range between Tk25,000 and Tk50,000, until the prices are finalised. All local private and public hospitals will be bound to sell the stents at these prices, stated the committee. DGDA Director General Maj Gen Mostafizur Rahman said: “It is possible to bring down the stent prices to half. We are working on it, keeping in mind affordability for the masses.” According to the DGDA chief, some 21 companies import around 18,000 stents of 47 types annually. The importers have been charging the customers several times higher than the import prices for the life-saving medical device for patients with blocked coronary arteries. They are making exorbitant profits although all kinds of medical devices are duty-free in Bangladesh. For instance, local catheter labs widely use a coronary stent called PROMUS Element, also a drug-eluting stent (DES), of Boston Scientific Corporation, whose import price is around Tk23,000. But, the same stent is sold for Tk1,30,000 at National Heart Institute, Tk1,10,000 at Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University, Tk1,20,000 at Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital and Tk1,50,000 at Labaid Hospital. On the other hand, the import price of a resolute integrity stent is around Tk47,000, which is selling for up to Tk 2 lakh. The patients and their relatives heavily bank on the cardiologists, who actually suggest stents from their favoured companies. Hence, patients buy the stents complying with their doctor’s suggestion without any idea of how much additional money they are paying for a single stent. Md Elias Hossain said his father is supposed to have two stents implanted into his heart on April 29. “April 15 was first set as the stent implantation date. But we had to defer the operation since the money needed for the process, including the stent price, was not raised before the date. We were asked to pay Tk2,80,000 for two stents then. It will be a great relief if we can buy those in at a reduced price,” Elias added. “Not just me, but the entire country will benefit from this government measure,” he said. Meanwhile, experts suggest that the committee, comprising 17 members, regularly monitors the market to ensure that the stents are selling at the set prices. They demanded immediate reduction to prices of all types of stents. The DGDA move will not succeed, otherwise, they fear. Joint Secretary Mahbub Kabir, member of the pricing committee, said all the stakeholders in a recent meeting admitted that there was disorder and massive irregularities in the pricing of heart stents. “But the government-set rates for stents will significantly curb sufferings of patients,” he hoped. If any company charges more than the set prices, it will face legal action, Kabir warned. Bangladesh Medical Device Importers’ Association President Gazi AK Shahin too confessed to the anomalies. Appreciating the price ceiling, he however, said it will take time for the government measure to take proper shape since the practice of over-charging patients has been going on for at least 15 years now. National Professor and National Heart Foundation President Brig (retd) Abdul Malik said the stent importers have been cheating patients. “So, the move to adjust the prices is very admirable,” he said.