The velvet glove of duty exemption to eight life-saving drugs attempts to unsuccessfully hide the iron fist that blows a hundred others off the critical list. Sadly, it also highlights North Block’s insensitivity towards taxpayers in general and cancer patients in particular. Five per cent surcharge levied on a handful number of taxpayers was criticised across the board. And rightly so for even the rationality behind such a drive was ill conceived. While the government stands to gain only a pittance from the entire exercise of charging through the surcharge, an honest taxpayer is made to carry the burden of millions of those who successfully evade the tax net year after year. More serious however is the government’s antipathy towards patients struggling for their survival.

Having failed to cut ice on the quality front, local manufacturers are now vying for a bigger umbrella through the tax route, which could be a riskier proposition for the end user. It is hard to believe that a government that spends crores of rupees on the medicare of a few VIPs finds it hard to forgo a pittance for the sake of the masses. Having himself benefited from a similar extravaganza not too long ago, the finance minister was at least expected to sympathetically look into the matter. Sinha’s assurance that the government would not want to profit from grave illness of cancer patients ends up as a usual political gimmick for he has done exactly the opposite a year later. Expensive as these sophisticated drugs are, it is no secret that many patients often resort to selling their belongings in order to procure them on time. Charging additional duties en masse has only added to the nightmares of numerous families.

On a rough estimate, for every overseas medical treatment of a VIP, the government spends nearly Rs 50 lakh in foreign exchange. Over and above the boarding and lodging in five star hotels and hospitals, it also pays for the spouse, attendants and special security personnel. In a particular case, it is known to have coughed up over Rs 5 crore annually on a former PM. It is shocking that the expected revenue to be generated through duty on life-saving drugs would bring in only a fraction of what it spends on a handful of VIPs. A cancer patient is required to continuously follow the same line of treatment for a very long time. Besides being expensive and carrying a limited life span, these drugs also need to be kept under sustained temperatures and monitored at regular intervals. It is, therefore, almost impossible for a patient to save by stocking the drugs in bulk. If this decision is not rolled back, many patients will simply die.