With barely any domestic production capacity, India is largely reliant on China-made concentrators. While there is a rush to import, the costs are high and hurdles include hazy regulations.
With barely any domestic production capacity, India is largely reliant on China-made concentrators. While there is a rush to import, the costs are high and hurdles include hazy regulations.
May 17, 2021
Manufacturers, importers told to submit MRP details to NPPA by May 22
Taking note of the exorbitant increase in prices of medical devices which are much in demand during the Covid-19 pandemic, the Centre on Monday ruled that maximum retail price (MRP) of medical devices cannot be increased by more than 10 per cent in a year.
A notification issued by the government said all manufacturers and importers of devices such as pulse oximeter and oxygen concentrators need to submit MRP details of the devices that they sell in the prescribed format within 7 days, latest by May 22, to the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority of India (NPPA) that regulates prices of pharmaceutical drugs.
May 17, 2021
Says MRP of medical devices cannot be increased more than 10% in a year
The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority of India (NPPA) has fixed the price of two Covid-19 drugs, Budesonide and Dexamethasone, at ₹40.17 per tablet of 9 mg and ₹3.6 per tablet of 6 mg, respectively, exclusive of goods and services tax (GST).
According to an order from the NPPA, while the price cap of Budesonide is for manufacturers Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and Sun Pharma Laboratories Ltd, the price of Dexamethasone has been fixed for Cadila Healthcare Ltd and Zydus Healthcare Ltd.
MRP of devices
Meanwhile, the NPPA has also ordered that the maximum retail price (MRP) of medical devices such as pulse oximeter and oxygen concentrators cannot be increased by more than 10 per cent in a year. It has asked all manufacturers and importers of pulse oximeter and oxygen concentrators to submit the MRP details in the prescribed format latest by May 22.
Affluent Indians are desperate to buy oxygen concentrators at any cost – but the economy is murky
Most concentrators are being imported from China. Many are virtually useless. 2 hours ago A patient breathes with the help of an oxygen concentrator provided by a gurdwara in Ghaziabad on May 1. | Sajjad Hussain / AFP
She was 53. The family could not find her a bed in any of the hospitals in Delhi where they lived when her oxygen levels plunged on April 26. The next day, they found her one in a private hospital in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh’s Greater Noida. But the hospital had an oxygen shortage – as most facilities in north India at the time.