Fortis overcharged up to 1,700% for dengue treatment: NPPA

Tribune News Service

Gurugram, December 16

The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) in an office memorandum released late last night stated that Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram, had marked up the prices of consumables billed to the family of a seven-year-old dengue patient by over 1,700 per cent, besides charging the family as much as 900 per cent for some of the medicines it used in the patient’s treatment.

The hospital in an official statement, however, denied overcharging the family or violation of the Drug Price Control Order (DPCO). It said that, “Fortis Healthcare does not charge for any drug or consumables above the printed MRP. It should also be noted that our end price to the patient is very much in line with what other private hospitals in India charge”.

It may be noted that in response to the family’s allegation that it was overcharged for dengue treatment, the NPPA had asked the hospital for the details of the medicines and consumables used in this case.

The NPPA though did not confirm or refute overcharging, it displayed the prices at which Fortis procured the medicines from distributors, the maximum retail prices at which it billed the family and how much each medicine and consumable was marked up.

It divided its analysis of classified information received from Fortis into three categories—medicines under price control, medicines not under price control and consumables that were neither under price control nor in the country’s list of essential medicines.

The mark-ups were the highest in consumables by as much as 1,737 per cent. Around 96 types of consumables were used on the patient.

For medicines under price control, Fortis marked up the prices between 5 per cent and 350 per cent. For medicines not under price control, the family was billed anywhere between 10 per cent and 200 per cent more than what the hospital had paid to the distributors for the products. Consumables such as some brands of disposable syringes were billed at the maximum retail price of Rs 200 each though Fortis had procured it for around Rs 15.29 each.

The family was charged around Rs 350 for bed bath towels and wipes, which the hospital had bought for Rs 33.60 each—a 942 per cent mark-up. Oxygen face masks bought for Rs 24.68 were billed to the family at the MRP of Rs 190, some sterile surgical gloves procured for Rs 9.86 each were sold for Rs 75 each and un-sterile examination gloves bought for Rs 1.34 a piece were marked up 609 per cent at Rs 9.50 each.

A hospital spokesperson said, “Looking at individual prices of any item on the list takes the hospital’s margin or profit “out of context”, as its business reported an operating profit of 5 per cent to 6 per cent over the last four quarters. Fortis also reported a negative profit after tax for the same period”.