Samajwadi Party Leader Requests Union Finance Minister To Reduce GST On Breast Cancer Drugs From 12% to 5% (image @ Pixabay)

Dimple Yadav, MP of Samajwadi Party from Uttar Pradesh’s Mainpuri, asked Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman to consider a reduction in GST (Goods and Service Tax) on breast cancer drugs from the existing 12 percent to 5 percent. Taking to her X (formerly Twitter), Dimple Yadav, who is also a prominent socialist leader, said that “breast cancer is the most common type of cancer globally and India ranks highest in the breast cancer deaths”.

She said one of the key reasons for the highest number of breast cancer death rate India was because of the “affordability of the treatment”. In her statement, she said, “With sincere humility I would urge the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman ji to reduce the GST on all the breast cancer drugs from 12% to 5% as it has been done for few other drugs in the past. The women of our entire country would welcome this decision and this would make cancer treatment affordable for the needy”.

Breast cancer is the most common type of cancer globally and India ranks highest in the number of breast cancer deaths. One of the key reason is affordability of the treatment. With sincere humility I would urge the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman ji to reduce the GST on all…

— Dimple Yadav (@dimpleyadav) January 19, 2024

Breast cancer is very common in India. With a prevalence rate of 25.8 cases per 100,000 people, in 2020, it was accounted that 13,6 percent of all new cancer cases and roughly 13.3 fatalities per 100,000 people are due breast cancer. In 2020 alone, an estimated amount of 2.3 million cases of breast cancer were reported, which accounted for 11.7 percent of all cancer cases. Currently, breast cancer account for 28.2 percent of all female cancers in India.

Recent study published in Cancer, an interdisciplinary journal of the American Cancer Society, revealed that women diagnosed with breast cancer in India have five-year survival of 66.4 percentage. However, although there has been improvement, India is still far behind survival rate when compared to developed countries like US, where the survival rate is recorded to be 90.2 percent. Delayed diagnosis and limited access to treatments and facilities largely contribute to the difference. Brest cancer deaths are expected to rise to 61.7 percent by 2040 in the Southeast regions of Asia.