Several hospitals and retail pharmacy chains in the city started offering medicines at lower prices following a revision in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on Monday. However, many standalone chemist shops continued to sell medicines at older prices for existing stock.
The GST Council has eliminated tax on 33 life-saving drugs, which earlier attracted a 12% GST. For three critical medicines used in treating cancer and rare diseases, the GST has been cut from 5% to nil. All other medicines now attract 5% GST, down from 12%.
Relief for patients
Doctors said the revised tax rates would significantly reduce the financial burden on patients, especially those with cancer and other chronic illnesses that require long-term treatment and expensive medication.
“Cancer treatment is costly. In at least 50% of cases, immunotherapy is needed for at least a year. On average, immunotherapy drugs cost ₹2 lakh per month,” said M.V. Chandrakanth, head of academics and senior consultant at the department of medical oncology, Narayana Health, Calcutta.
“For the first five months, patients have to buy the drugs. For the next seven, manufacturers supply them free under patient assistance programmes. So, a one-year treatment costs around ₹10 lakh. With the GST cut, this should drop to approximately ₹8.8 lakh,” he said.
In addition to the cost of drugs, patients must also undergo regular tests like blood work, CT scans, and MRIs. “Tests alone cost around ₹2 lakh annually,” he added.
One cycle of Atezolizumab 1200 mg, used to treat liver and lung cancer, earlier cost ₹3.8 lakh, the oncologist said. After the GST cut, the price has dropped to around ₹3.39 lakh. The drug typically needs to be administered for life, with 17 cycles a year.
A combination injection of Pertuzumab and Trastuzumab, used to treat HER2 breast cancer, previously cost ₹2.74 lakh. It will now cost approximately ₹2.57 lakh.
“Most cancer patients consult doctors at an advanced stage, requiring surgery, chemotherapy, radiation, and immunotherapy. Insurance only partly covers the cost of targeted and immunotherapy drugs. Many patients discontinue treatment midway due to the financial strain,” said Gautam Mukhopadhyay, surgical oncologist.
Hospitals, stores
On Monday, hospitals and large drug chains adopted different approaches to reflect the revised prices, as existing stock still carries old MRPs.
At Narayana Health, GST benefits are being passed on in three ways. “For OPD patients, we are offering an additional 5% discount on medicines. For inpatients, vendors revised prices of high-value drugs and consumables on Saturday. For lower-priced items, we are calculating and deducting the price difference,” said R. Venkatesh, group COO, Narayana Health.
“It will take about a month to update price labels across all medicines and consumables,” he added.
At Belle Vue Clinic, officials said all items are now being provided at revised rates.
“Suppliers agreed to bear the price difference for old MRP stock, and they will recover it from the manufacturers,” said Pradip Tondon, CEO, Belle Vue Clinic.
The Dhanwantari Group, which operates 30 medicine outlets in the city, started billing at new rates on Monday. “We updated the software and have claimed credit input on older stock,” said managing director Rajendra Khandelwal.
At their Bosepukur store, the software update was completed by afternoon. “In the morning, we accepted prescriptions and delivered medicines later once billing was adjusted to the new rates,” said an employee.
Small outlets
Many smaller, independent chemists are still charging older prices.
“We don’t get input tax credit. So, if we sell stock at the new rate, the wholesaler won’t refund us the difference,” said the owner of a medicine store in south Calcutta.