Maha FDA chief Tukaram Munde seeks pricing rules for medical consumables

• Maharashtra FDA seeks national guidelines to cap the gap between procurement prices and printed MRPs of medical consumables

• A state survey finds steep mark-ups, including an IV set bought for Rs 11.05 but carrying an MRP of Rs 325

• FDA Commissioner Tukaram Munde flags a regulatory gap, noting most medical devices and consumables remain outside price controls

The Maharashtra FDA has asked central authorities to frame guidelines on the permissible difference between procurement prices and printed MRPs. FDA commissioner Tukaram Munde has written to the Department of Pharmaceuticals and the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority, recommending a review.

The letter is based on the findings of a Maharashtra state survey that indicated the need to have clear limits on the permissible gap between procurement prices and declared MRPs.

Describing the price difference as a major public health concern, Munde said patients often had no way of determining whether the printed price of a medical product reflected its actual cost.

“The most expensive part of a hospital bill may never touch the hospital at all. A patient admitted for care has no way of knowing whether the price on a medical consumable reflects its actual cost or a markup fixed long before it ever reached the ward,” he said.

A survey of hospital consumables across Maharashtra revealed substantial differences between procurement prices and MRPs.

An intravenous infusion set bought at a trade price of Rs 11.05 carried a printed MRP of Rs 325, representing a mark-up of 2,841 per cent. A syringe procured for Rs 6.75 had an MRP of Rs 57.20, while a catheter bought for Rs 29.41 carried an MRP of Rs 310.

Munde said the proposed guidelines were intended to address not only excessive price differences but also the lack of information available to patients.

In a post on X, he noted that medical consumables were not elective purchases. Patients receiving treatment were rarely in a position to compare prices, request alternatives or question the printed MRP.

“The MRP itself is often fixed upstream by manufacturers and distributors, disconnected from the trade price by a wide, unexplained margin. The result is a system where the party bearing the cost has the least information to evaluate it,” he said.

Munde also highlighted what he described as a structural gap in the regulatory framework. Prices of scheduled medicines are controlled under the Drugs (Prices Control) Order, 2013, but most medical devices and consumables remain outside its scope.

As a result, the pricing of these products and the information available to patients remain largely unmonitored, he said.

The Maharashtra FDA’s recommendation seeks a formal review of the pricing system and national guidelines specifying a reasonable difference between the price paid by the trade and the MRP ultimately charged to patients.

With agency inputs