Health Minister rules out withdrawal of hospital billing transparency order

Health Minister U.T. Khader has ruled out withdrawing the Food Safety and Drugs Administration (FSDA) Department’s circular mandating hospital pharmacies to disclose the purchase price and maximum retail price (MRP) of medicines, medical devices and consumables on bills, even as the Karnataka Pharma Retailers and Distributors Organisation (KPRDO) has sought its withdrawal on legal and operational grounds.

“The landing-cost disclosure issue is before the Supreme Court, and the requirement will depend on the court’s order. There are no plans to withdraw the order on displaying the MRP and purchase costs,” Mr. Khader told The Hindu on Thursday.

Retailers’ contention

The KPRDO, in a representation to the Minister and Food Safety and Drugs Administration Commissioner K. Srinivas, argued that the circular, issued under the Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (KPME) Act, 2007, could not impose additional requirements on hospital pharmacies operating under licences issued under the Central Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

“Singling out the healthcare sector to disclose wholesale procurement prices on retail invoices, while other retail businesses operate under the standard MRP system, is inherently biased,” KPRDO president C. Jayaram said.

The organisation also cited fluctuating procurement costs and the burden of updating hospital information systems to print batch-wise landing prices on individual bills. Disclosing purchase prices without context could trigger disputes between patients and hospital staff, Mr. Jayaram said.

If margins on particular medicines were considered excessive, they should be regulated through the Union government’s existing price-control mechanisms, including the Drugs (Prices Control) Order and the National List of Essential Medicines, he argued.

Itemised bills mandatory

Mr. Khader said the State would continue enforcing requirements on the display of treatment and service charges and the issue of itemised bills by private medical establishments.

In 2023, the Health Department directed private medical establishments to display their treatment and service rates prominently at reception desks and provide patients with complete rate booklets under Section 10 (1) of the KPME Act.

The department has also directed hospitals to issue itemised bills, following complaints that some establishments were charging consolidated rates for treatments and services without providing a breakdown of individual charges. The requirement is covered under the KPME Amendment Act, 2017, the Minister said.