Centre waives import duty, GST worth Rs 6 cr on infant's imported medicines

The Union government has waived

import duty and GST of Rs 6 crore on medicines for a five- month-old girl suffering from a rare medical condition, BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said on Tuesday.

Teera Kamat, admitted in a suburban hospital, suffers from Spinal Muscular Atrophy in which a complete breakdown of nerve cells results in zero control over muscle movement.

Her parents, Priyanka and Mihir Kamat, had written on social media about their child's fight with a debilitating ailment, leading to fund raising as well as appeals to the Union government to waive import duty and GST on medicines.

Among the medicines is Zolgensma which targets the root cause of SMA and which has to be imported.

In their social media appeals, Teera's parents had said that 23 per cent import duty and 12 per cent GST added Rs 6 crore to the cost of Rs 16 crore that the treatment entails.

Fadnavis, on February 1, had written to the Centre requesting a waiver of import duty and GST.

"I would like to thank you from bottom of my heart for extremely humanitarian and sensitive approach and quick action for exempting customs duty for importing life saving drug Zolgensma for five month old Teera Kamat from Mumbai," Fadnavis said in a letter to the Prime Minister's Office on Tuesday.