Knee disorder is on the rise in our country. According to available reports 1.5 lakh people in the country are reported to be suffering from knee disability. The cost of knee surgery in our country has been anything between Rs. 1.58 lakh to Rs 2.5 lakh. Only affluent people afford that expensive surgery and for ordinary people it is almost a dream. Interestingly, the Prime Minister in the course of his address to the nation on the Independence Day said that the cost of knee surgery would be brought down.
In the light of the speech of the Prime Minister the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) has capped the price of widely used Chromium Cobalt knee implants at Rs 54,720. Announcement to this effect was made by the Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar. After cardiac stents, the Ministry has now decided to bring knee implants under price control. We welcome the decision of the Union Government and hope that it will be extended to our state also and that no constraints of Article 370 will be invoked to prevent the extension of the decision to our state. According to an estimate the saving expected to be made by capping the cost of knee surgery would be to the tune of Rs1500 crore annually for an estimated 1.5 lakh patients requiring knee replacement surgery every year. The Government has assured that any case of violation of this order will be dealt with strictly. We strongly recommend that the order should be promulgated in the State without any loss of time.
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