Gauri (name changed) was all set to undergo a new procedure on Sunday to replace her degenerated heart valve. But the 75-year-old will have a wait a while longer because a pricing controversy has hit the official debut of the revolutionary hand-made prosthetic valve.
The Medical Council of India (MCI) on Thursday refused temporary registration to the doctor who was to have supervised the procedures in India-on the grounds that any procedure done by a doctor on temporary registration cannot be charged.
A leading cardiologist from Delhi, Dr Purshottam Lal, has written to Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad questioning the "exorbitant pricing" of the product, which costs Rs 12.5 lakh. Patients lined up for procedures-including Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai, Delhi's Metro and Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, and Bangalore's Narayan Hrudayalaya-over the next four days have been reportedly told to pay the money.
"MCI rules allow foreign faculty to operate in India mainly for charitable reasons. The Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (Tavi) doesn't qualify for it," said an MCI member. The 'Core Valve' is implanted in patients who cannot withstand the trauma of an open heart surgery. It is inserted through the artery in the groin at the tip of a catheter and placed inside the heart.
The US firm, Medtronic, which markets the implant in India, does not have a registration or a product licence yet. It had applied to the MCI asking for temporary registration for Dr Dinesh Manoharan who was to have given the "demonstration" of the device.
Medtronics officials said the Tavi procedures were not a "commercial" exercise and the price of the implant in India is the same as it is internationally.
As reported in: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-06-24/mumbai/29698805_1_heart-valve-registration-pricing-controversy
The Medical Council of India (MCI) on Thursday refused temporary registration to the doctor who was to have supervised the procedures in India-on the grounds that any procedure done by a doctor on temporary registration cannot be charged.
A leading cardiologist from Delhi, Dr Purshottam Lal, has written to Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad questioning the "exorbitant pricing" of the product, which costs Rs 12.5 lakh. Patients lined up for procedures-including Jaslok Hospital in Mumbai, Delhi's Metro and Fortis Escorts Heart Institute, and Bangalore's Narayan Hrudayalaya-over the next four days have been reportedly told to pay the money.
"MCI rules allow foreign faculty to operate in India mainly for charitable reasons. The Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (Tavi) doesn't qualify for it," said an MCI member. The 'Core Valve' is implanted in patients who cannot withstand the trauma of an open heart surgery. It is inserted through the artery in the groin at the tip of a catheter and placed inside the heart.
The US firm, Medtronic, which markets the implant in India, does not have a registration or a product licence yet. It had applied to the MCI asking for temporary registration for Dr Dinesh Manoharan who was to have given the "demonstration" of the device.
Medtronics officials said the Tavi procedures were not a "commercial" exercise and the price of the implant in India is the same as it is internationally.
As reported in: http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-06-24/mumbai/29698805_1_heart-valve-registration-pricing-controversy