Cancer, Diabetes Medicines Cheaper: This time Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has benefited in every way in the health sector. On one hand, it has been announced to make the country a pharmaceutical hub, on the other hand, it has been announced to make the treatment of many incurable diseases cheaper. While presenting the budget in Parliament, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has made a big announcement to make medicines for cancer, diabetes and autoimmune diseases cheaper. The government has proposed a huge reduction in the custom duty and other taxes on these life-saving medicines. This masterstroke will not only reduce the burden on the pockets of the middle class, but will also make access to these medicines easier in the healthcare system of the country.

Custom duty on medicines for cancer and rare diseases will be reduced
In his budget speech, the Finance Minister has mainly emphasized on non-communicable diseases and autoimmune diseases. Many announcements have been made under this. In this sequence, in his budget speech, he said that custom duty on 36 life-saving medicines will be abolished to provide relief to patients suffering from cancer, rare diseases and other serious chronic diseases. Basic Custom Duty (BCD) on these medicines will be completely waived. Apart from this, it has also been proposed to add 6 life saving medicines in the list with concessional custom duty of 5 percent. The same exemption and concessional fee will be applicable on bulk drugs used in the manufacturing of all these medicines.

Cancer day care in district hospitals
Making a big announcement for cancer patients, the Finance Minister has announced that in the next 3 years, day care will help in setting up cancer centers in all the district hospitals. For this, 200 day-care cancer centers will be started in the year 2025–26. Actually, cancer patients have to come to big cities like Delhi and Mumbai for treatment, whereas due to advancement in the medical field, this facility can now be provided anywhere. Earlier there was demand on a large scale. So this is a big step.

Nirmala Sitharaman said in her budget speech that we are proposing to take several steps to make the health sector accessible to the common people. For this he has talked about high quality education and training and holistic education in the medical field. Under the overall health strategy, he has said that it is a good thing for us that our society has now started knowing the nutritional value. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on health. People are increasing interest in green vegetables and fruits which are a sign of a healthy society. Under this, we started Shri Anna Yojana. Now we will promote products with more nutrients