Have a heart, PMC

2.5 per cent octroi levied on coronary stents despite central government directive to charge one per cent

Despite a Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare directive dated October 6, 2005, which asks for coronary stents and heart valves to be considered drugs for purposes of taxation, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) continues to label them surgical instruments.

While drugs entering PMC limits attract octroi charges that are oneu00a0 per cent of their cost value, one has to pay 2.5 per cent as octroi on surgical instruments. This places an additional burden on the 700 patients who undergo bypass surgery, angioplasty or knee replacement surgery every month in the city.

The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, also considers 10 devices, including cardiac stents andu00a0 orthopedic implants, to be drugs and not surgical devices.

Said PMC Octroi Chief Rajendra Muthe, "The PMC can decide on octroi duty at its discretion. Hence, it had framed a fresh set of rules on the subject in 2008, which has been endorsed by the state government's Urban Development department."

Bachubhai Oswal, member of State Council of Pharmacy, asked, "How can the PMC consider implants as surgical instruments when the central government has declared them drugs in 2005?"

Agreed Dr Dilip Sarda,u00a0 president of the city unit of the Indian Medical Association. "It is unfair on the PMC's part to charge octroi on lifesaving drugs. This puts an unnecessary burden on patient's pockets, because treatment becomes costlier," he said.

Likewise, a major stent dealer in the city said, "The demand for coronary stents in the city varies from 300 to 400 every month, and their price ranges from Rs 25,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh. Puneites have to shell out Rs 1,500 extra because of the hiked octroi."