The controversy over the price of cardiac stents is once again in the limelight, months after the state health department cracked its whip on private hospitals for overcharging patients.

On Thursday, Cabinet Minister for Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, Food and Drugs Administration Girish Bapat warned private hospitals that it was a non-bailable offence to overcharge patients. In the legislative council, in reply to a question raised by Congress MLC Sanjay Dutt, Bapat said, "Hospitals will not be spared for charging extra from patients for medical devices and medicines, and we will take stern actions against them."