A new gift has been announced by the government for the public. Under the declaration, it has been told that the custom duty on medicines, medical goods as well as medicines and food items for personal use, brought from other countries for serious and rare diseases, will be completely abolished. This import duty will be applicable from 1st April. Also, the government has exempted basic customs duty on Pembrolizumab (Keytruda), used in the treatment of various types of cancer. Drugs/medicines generally attract a basic customs duty of 10 per cent, while certain categories of life saving drugs/vaccines attract a concessional rate of 5 per cent or nil.
National Policy Applicable 2021
The Finance Ministry has said in a statement, ‘The central government has decided to import all medicines imported for personal use for the treatment of all serious diseases listed under the National Policy for Rare Diseases 2021. It has been decided to completely abolish custom duty on medicines and certain food items.
Completely exempted from custom duty
To avail custom duty exemption, the individual importer will have to produce a certificate issued by the Central or State Director Health Services or District Medical Officer or Civil Surgeon of the district. At present, the government is already exempting custom duty on the import of medicines for Spinal Muscular Atrophy or Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. But there was a demand for exemption in custom duty on the import of essential medicines and medicines for other serious diseases.
The medicines and special foods required for the treatment of these serious diseases are very expensive and have to be imported. According to an estimate, a 10 kg child who is suffering from a rare disease costs Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore annually for his treatment. This treatment continues for the whole life and with the increase in age and weight, the dose of medicines and the expenditure on it also increases.
In India from April 1, The price of medicines is going up
For your information, let us tell you that many people will be happy to hear the exemption on custom duty on medicines, while the price of many essential medicines including Paracetamol is going to increase inside India. The public is already facing the brunt of inflation and a few days back the government has decided that along with paracetamol, the prices of many essential medicines are going to increase from the month of April. Antibiotic, anti-infective, pain killer, heart disease medicine are at the top of the list of these medicines. The pharmaceutical company will now sell the medicine in the hall sale at an expensive price. The annual medicine expenditure of ‘Whole Sale Index’ has also been increased. The National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) said on Monday that the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) had increased by 12.12 percent in the year 2022. Now once again In the year 2023 the price of these medicines is going to increase. Which will be applicable from 1st April 2023.
Disclaimer: The methods, methods and suggestions mentioned in this article are based on the inputs given by the professionals. Before implementing them, take the advice of the concerned expert.
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