DC | Kaniza Garari | 4 hours 40 min ago
Hyderabad: Patients will soon have to shell out more money for medical treatment, if the fluctuations in the rupee continue. The value of our Indian currency has been nosediving for the past four months, putting private hospitals in an awkward position.
They have had to watch helplessly as the prices of their medical products spiralled relentlessly upwards. These include tubes for laboratories, CT scan machines, stents, surgical staples, pins, balloons and a range of surgical instruments.
Eighty per cent of the medical equipment is imported, since most of them are not made in India. The ones that are, don’t pass muster.
The cost of regular products like stents, monitors, ventilators, endoscopes, staple pins and clips have already seen a 30 per cent rise. Equipment used for oncology procedures is 35 per cent costlier than before.
General manager of Star Hospitals Venkat Reddy said, “The pinch is strongly felt when the hospital goes in for procurement of new equipment. Surgical instruments are required on a regular basis and they need to be replenished before the stocks get over. Hence buying is compulsory, at whatever price.”
Those who have expansion or upgradation plans are being worst hit. Oncology is viewed as the next big market in the medical industry, but all the equipment required for treatment have to be imported.
The annual maintenance contract in all super speciality and small nursing homes is now being renewed on a monthly basis due to the constant currency fluctuations. This means that the hospital pays every month according to the rate of the rupee versus the dollar.
States: Andhra Pradesh
They have had to watch helplessly as the prices of their medical products spiralled relentlessly upwards. These include tubes for laboratories, CT scan machines, stents, surgical staples, pins, balloons and a range of surgical instruments.
Eighty per cent of the medical equipment is imported, since most of them are not made in India. The ones that are, don’t pass muster.
The cost of regular products like stents, monitors, ventilators, endoscopes, staple pins and clips have already seen a 30 per cent rise. Equipment used for oncology procedures is 35 per cent costlier than before.
General manager of Star Hospitals Venkat Reddy said, “The pinch is strongly felt when the hospital goes in for procurement of new equipment. Surgical instruments are required on a regular basis and they need to be replenished before the stocks get over. Hence buying is compulsory, at whatever price.”
Those who have expansion or upgradation plans are being worst hit. Oncology is viewed as the next big market in the medical industry, but all the equipment required for treatment have to be imported.
The annual maintenance contract in all super speciality and small nursing homes is now being renewed on a monthly basis due to the constant currency fluctuations. This means that the hospital pays every month according to the rate of the rupee versus the dollar.
States: Andhra Pradesh
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