The sales tax department had sought the list of medicines and equipment required for dialysis from the public health department and the list has been finalized after scrutiny. This list will be legally notified.
In a relief for patients suffering from kidney-related ailments, the state government has decided to do away with taxes on medicines and equipment used for dialysis.
During the budget session, finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar had announced that taxes on medicines used for dialysis and kidney-related ailments would be waived off. Accordingly, Mungantiwar took a decision in this regard on Wednesday and 13 generic medicines and equipment will see taxes being done away with.
The sales tax department had sought the list of medicines and equipment required for dialysis from the public health department and the list has been finalized after scrutiny. This list will be legally notified.
According to the figures available, up to 4 lakh patients suffer from chronic kidney end-stage diseases in India but only 1% of patients get access to kidney transplant. India has close to 1,200 nephrologists practising across the country.
There are 2,500 dialysis centers with a total of approximately 20,000 dialysis machines, predominantly in the private sector (90%) and mainly concentrated in cities, especially metros. There are around 65,000 patients undergoing hemodialysis at these centers.
Close to 600 patients are registered with the ZTCC to receive a kidney. The number of patients waiting is up to 10 times more than those who end up receiving one.
Dr Rajesh Kumar, nephorlogist at Dr LH Hiranandani hospital, said: "It is a good decision and will help end-stage kidney patients get good health care. Unlike other states, Maharashtra had VAT as well as Octroi. For buying a single dialysis, we spent Rs60-70,000 only on taxes. For a single filter which is used in the dialysis, we paid Rs100 on taxes."
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