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Govt may propose duty cuts for rare-disease medicines, cancer drugs in budget to ease burden on patients
- The landscape of rare diseases is constantly changing as new ailments and conditions are identified and reported regularly.
New Delhi: The Union budget presented on Saturday saw a 9.8% increase in the allocation for the healthcare sector to ₹99,858.56 crore from ₹90,958.68 crore in the previous financial year, but overall health allocation remained below 2% of the budget.
The budget extended the Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme to gig workers, increased the number of seats in medical education, lent support to medical tourism, announced the establishment of 200 cancer daycare centres and exempted duties on 36 essential medicines for cancer and rare diseases.
Sitharaman said another six life-saving medicines are to be added to the list of drugs that attract a customs duty of 5% if these drugs are provided free of charge to eligible beneficiaries.
Around one in nine people in India are expected to face a cancer diagnosis during their lifetime. Around 70 million Indians are estimated to suffer from rare diseases as per the Indian Council of Medical Research.
Official data says the projected cancer burden in India is expected to rise from 26.7 million DALYs (adjusted mortality to incidence) in 2021 to 29.8 million in 2025, with the highest burden in the north and northeast.
The proposals were part of a health budget that made up a paltry 1.97% of total allocations, slightly up from 1.90% in the previous budget.
Nikkhil K Masurkar, CEO, Entod Pharmaceuticals said the move will boost exports of key drugs. “The removal of basic customs duty on 36 life-saving drugs, along with reductions on bulk drugs, is a commendable move that will make essential medicines more affordable for patients,” he said.
Daara Patel, secretary general at the Indian Drugs Manufactures Association added, “This will help us serve millions of lives and support our initiatives of being patient-centric.”
Additionally, the finance minister said she proposed to set up 200 daycare cancer centres–one in every district hospital–over the next three years, another step welcomed by experts.
“Setting of daycare cancer centres at district level is a welcome step. These centres will provide facilities for cancer chemotherapy/immunotherapy and daycare operations for a variety of cancers,” said Dr Shyam Aggarwal, vice president, Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology.
Shashank N.D, CEO & Co-founder, Practo said that cancer treatment involves long-term care, with out-of-pocket (OOP) expenses forming the bulk of costs.
“The mean OOP for breast cancer treatment could be somewhere around ₹1.86 lakh, accounting for anywhere between 60-70% of the total cost. In 2018, the mean OOP for hospitalization for any cancer treatment in India was ₹85,595, with costs significantly higher in private hospitals. Medicines and hospitalization alone make up over 60% of a patient’s total expenses.”
The finance minister said the government has added almost 110,000 undergraduate and post-graduate medical education seats in 10 years, a 130% increase. Another 10,000 seats will be added next year in medical colleges and teaching hospitals–part of plans to add 75,000 seats in the next five years.
The government has allocated ₹3,125 crore to the Indian Council of Medical Research in union budget 2025-26 to strengthen research into pressing health challenges.
To accelerate digital healthcare, the government allocated ₹340.11 crore to the Ayushman Bharat Digital Health which is a ₹140.11 crore increase, almost 70% over 2024-25 estimates.
Sitharaman also told Parliament that the gig workers will be provided healthcare under the government’s flagship health assurance scheme—Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB PM-JAY). The budget also proposed to boost medical tourism.
Dr Sarit Rout, Economist, Indian Institute of Public Health (IIPH) Bhubaneswar, said, “Overall, total allocations to Health including Ayush ministry remains more or less 2% of general government expenditure, no change in the share. Many programmes including NHM do not witness any substantial hike. The national health mission shows a moderate increase in the allocations, which is just 4%, compared to 2024-25 BE and this will have many ramifications on the already strained health infrastructure in rural areas.”
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Business NewsBudgetGovt may propose duty cuts for rare-disease medicines, cancer drugs in budget to ease burden on patients
First Published:16 Jan 2025, 03:13 PM IST
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