IMA welcomes reduction in GST on essential medicines, demands more exemption on health services

The Indian Medical Association has welcomed the government's Goods and Services Tax relief on cancer and other essential medications. He called it a necessary step to make healthcare more affordable for millions of patients in the country.

The IMA also emphasized that medical equipment health care will lower the hospital and clinic operating costs. The move is likely to alleviate the financial burden of families battling life-saving illnesses such as cancer, chronic kidney disease and severe infections.

In addition to this, the body made a plea to the government to provide complete exemption from GST on a multitude of life-saving and essential drugs.  These include anti-cancer drugs that are employed in chemotherapy and immunotherapy, anti-diabetic drugs such as insulin, cardiac drugs, anti-hypertensive drugs and chronic respiratory disease drugs such as asthma and COPD.

 The association also stressed the need for exemption on drugs used in rare conditions like hemophilia and myelodysplastic syndrome.

The association has raised the issue of difficulties faced by its state and local branches in GST and Tax Deduction Account Number (TAN) registration. The organization says that these processes are getting complicated due to naming problems. Seeking attention to this, the association has appealed to the Council to take necessary steps to simplify and streamline the compliance processes across the country.

The IMA has also recommended the removal of GST on hospital beds, as beds are a basic need of healthcare and not a luxury item. Apart from this, the association has demanded exemption in GST on health insurance premium, saying that this will encourage more people to take health insurance and reduce the financial pressure on families during medical emergencies. IMA said it hopes the GST Council will consider these additional demands in the interest of public health.