Recent GST changes mark key shift towards making cancer care affordable: AIIMS researchers
New Delhi: Recent changes to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) framework -- simplified tax structure, removal of tax on drugs and medical equipment and increased taxation on tobacco products -- mark an important policy shift towards making cancer care more affordable and accessible, AIIMS researchers have said.
In a commentary published in Frontier, Oncologist Dr Abhishek Shankar and Scientist Dr Vaibhav Sahni from the Department of Radiation Oncology, Dr BR Ambedkar Institute Rotary Cancer Hospital, AIIMS, Delhi, noted that the reforms acknowledge the financial toxicity faced by cancer patients and attempt to address long-standing gaps in treatment affordability.
The researchers mentioned that the GST council, in its 56th meeting, recommended the total exemption of 33 lifesaving drugs, including those used in cancer care, from GST altogether (erstwhile 12 per cent to now zero and three critical drugs for rare diseases and cancer from 5 per cent earlier to zero). The council has also recommended no GST application on individual health and life insurance policies (from 18 per cent previously).
An important aspect of this policy reform is that it includes certain patented drugs with no generic alternatives, they said. In another significant step, the authors stated that the council has also increased the tax slab for tobacco products to 40 per cent, which is the highest for any class of goods in the country. Tobacco and products related to it shall, however, remain under the 28 per cent tax slab till loans and compensation cess have been paid.
"Regardless, the new taxation slab on health-harming products is a step in the right direction and provides increased opportunity to redirect the generated revenue for funding cancer care in the country.
"There is evidence in literature which supports the fact that tobacco taxation leads to improved health outcomes, particularly in economically disadvantaged sections of society," the researchers said.
A subnational study using the extended-cost effectiveness model across four Indian states found that a price increase of Rs 10 per cigarette with an ad valorem of 10 per cent led to 65,762 individuals from the top income bracket and 485,725 individuals from the bottom income bracket quitting smoking.
This adjustment led to the prevention of 665,000 mortalities, a gain of 11.9 million years of life, and over USD 1.96 trillion in averted treatment costs.
