A Bangla national daily recently reported that price of each BMS cardiac ring (stent) in international market at the time of writing the report was between US$70 and US$120 (equivalent Tk 5,600 to Tk 9,600) and that of DSE cardiac ring was between US$190 to US$280 (equivalent Tk 15,200 to Tk 22,400). Another English daily reported that import price of a coronary stent called PROMUS Element was equivalent to Tk 23,000 and was being sold at Tk 130,000 at the National Heart Institute, Tk 110,000 at BSMMU, Tk 120,000 at Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital and Tk150,000 at Lab Aid hospital.
The abnormal pricing has been going on for a long time. The country's drug regulator department of the Drug Administration formed a committee on April 18 to recommend measures to rationalise the prices. The committee asked importers to keep the price within Tk 25,000 to Tk 50,000 for the time being until finalisation of price. It is known that 21 importers of the country import 47 types of stents duty-free.
It is difficult to understand why stents priced at Tk 5,600 to Tk 22,400 in international market should be sold at Tk1,30,00 to Tk 1,50,000 locally. It is also not rational that the committee which was formed to rationalise the price can ask the sellers to sell a stent at a price between Tk 25,000 and Tk 50,000 until finalisation of the price. The Directorate of National Consumer Rights must intervene at this point and penalise the importers for extorting exorbitant prices for stents.
Md. Ashraf Hossain
120, Bashabo, Dhaka-1214.
[email protected]
