New Delhi: Arunachal Pradesh could soon be the first state in India to standardise the price range of diagnostic tests performed by laboratories, with the Union government now asking other states to examine and follow the model.
While several states/UTs including Delhi and Maharashtra had put a price cap on diagnostic tests for Covid — such as the RT-PCR — during the peak of the pandemic, Arunachal has come up with a standard price range for nearly 160 types of tests and has sought the Union health ministry’s approval before implementation, ThePrint has learnt.
Rates decided by the Arunachal government have been finalised as part of provisions under India’s Clinical Establishment (Registration and Regulation) Act, passed by Parliament in 2010, which allows for the introduction of rules to govern all public and private therapeutic and diagnostic centres, including single-doctor clinics, nursing homes and large hospitals.
So far, 11 states and seven Union Territories — including Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Haryana, Assam, Rajasthan, Mizoram, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim, and all UTs except Delhi — have adopted the Clinical Establishment Act, the rules and regulations under which are yet to be largely defined.
The proposal by the Arunachal Pradesh government was submitted at the 13th National Council for Clinical Establishment (NCCE) meeting held in March this year, according to official sources.
“We have been waiting for the Centre’s approval before going ahead with the rates,” Tasso Kampo, a senior official at the Arunachal Pradesh directorate of health services told ThePrint this week.
According to the rates proposed by the Arunachal Pradesh government, diagnostic services cannot charge more than Rs 50-100 for a hemoglobin test, Rs 300-500 for a complete blood count and Rs 800-1,000 for a liver function test, according to details accessed by ThePrint.
Similarly, the rate proposed for a pap smear test [for cervical cancer] is Rs 1,000-2,000, a CT scan [for the complete abdomen] is Rs 3,000-6,000, while the rate prescribed for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is Rs 4,000-7,000.
A senior official in the Union health ministry who was present in the NCCE meeting said that while the states have been suggested to examine the proposal presented by Arunachal Pradesh, they will take their local dynamics into consideration.
“That’s because the rates that seem right for a state in the north-east may not be applicable for a state like Uttar Pradesh,” the official said.
ThePrint reached Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan via calls for a comment on the proposal. The copy will be updated once a response is received.
The Arunachal Pradesh government’s proposal has, however, drawn some opposition from industry leaders who feel rates should depend on “market dynamics”.
‘Price of quality’
“Ideally, states should have introduced price capping for healthcare services on their own — like we saw some states doing during the peak of the Covid pandemic,” said Mira Shiva a senior member of the Consumer Education Research Centre, who was a participant at the NCCE meeting, where the Arunachal Pradesh government’s proposal was submitted.
She added: “But we are glad that at least one state has taken initiative to come up with a rate charge of diagnostic services.”
According to Shiva, the purpose of enacting the Clinical Establishment Act will not be fulfilled till the time a strict price regulation of services by hospitals and other healthcare service providers is not introduced.
Some industry leaders, however, seemed to disagree.
Speaking to ThePrint, Dr. Navin Dang, founder and director of Dr. Dangs Lab in New Delhi, said all diagnostic centers in the country should be mandatorily made to follow minimum standards in relation to qualification of personnel, requirements related to the infrastructure and quality of services, under the Clinical Establishment Act
“Public sector diagnostic centers should be strengthened to offer good services to masses at subsidized rates or free of cost but when it comes to price regulation of private diagnostic centers, I think they should be allowed to operate as per market dynamics because quality comes at a price,” he added.
(Edited by Poulomi Banerjee)
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