Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu has welcomed the Centre’s decision to regulate the prices of coronary stents and extended his government’s support to the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers.
Union Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Ananth Kumar in a letter to the states outlined the Centre’s measures to provide improved and affordable health care in the country.
These include regulating the prices of drugs and medical devices to reduce the burden of poor patients and their kin. Taking view of high incidences of coronary artery disease (CAD), the Centre included coronary stent implantation in Schedule 1 of the Drugs (Prices Control) Order of 2013.
This enabled the National Pharmaceuticals Pricing Authority (NPPA) to bring down prices by 50 per cent. The regulated price of bare metal stents is Rs 7,260 and of drug eluting metallic stents (DES) and bio- restorable vascular scaffold/biodegradable stents is Rs 29,600.
“This is a huge relief for poor patients suffering from CAD,” Khandu said in a letter to the Union minister on Saturday.
He assured that the Centre’s notification will be made available to all concerned for necessary publicity. “The state government is committed to monitoring the availability and price of stent for the benefit of the denizens,” the chief minister said.
He also appealed to the people to avail the regulated benefit for CAD cases. “If any hospital/nursing homes overcharges or provides excuses of non-availability of stents, the matter should be immediately reported or complained to www.nppa.gov.in or through NPPA’s helpline number 1800111255,” Khandu said.
Khandu’s mantra
At a time when the Arunachal Pradesh is witnessing a rise in tourist arrivals every year ‘hospitality’ is the key to boost tourism industry in state, Chief Minister Pema Khandu said here on Saturday.
“People need to be educated more in terms of tourism. Tourists visit places where people are friendly and welcoming,” Khandu said at the launch of an audio-visual presentation on tourism promotion in the state by the Arunachal Pradesh Tour Operators Association (APTOA).
The Chief Minister requested the state Tourism Department to conduct workshops and awareness campaigns to make people realise the importance of tourism for the growth of state’s economy.
Stressing on innovation to promote tourism, the Chief Minister urged the young minds of the department to take the lead.
Welcoming private investment in tourism industry to supplement the state government’s efforts towards developing the tourism infrastructure and facilities, Khandu informed that the state government had announced a Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Swablamban Yojana (DDUSY) with bank loans from Rs 10 lakh to one crore with up to 30 per cent subsidy.
“Main purpose of this scheme is to boost tourism and to promote the growth of agriculture and allied sectors, which will be a big help for our unemployed youths,” he said.
Touching upon the issues of APTOA, Khandu assured to raise the corpus fund from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 50 lakh within this year. Acknowledging the role of tour operators in the development tourism sector, he welcomed APTOA to be a part of Team Arunachal to help the government in policy making and taking decisions. (PTI)
