Mumbai
The prices of certain life-saving drugs for diseases, including cancer, HIV, haemophilia, diabetes and infections, may go up by 10-25% for both imported and indigenously-produced drugs with the government’s recent tweaking of the levies – removing customs duty waiver as well as imposing excise duty.
Coming days before the Budget, the move is “in contradiction of government’s efforts to improve healthcare” and better access, say experts adding that even drugs which are part of the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) have not been spared.
In a notification on January 28, the government withdrew the concessional customs duty on 76 key drugs “in public interest”. Of this, 47 drugs figure in NLEM 2015.
