Tax on medical equipment to decline treatment affordability among low-income

The proposed sale tax on medical equipment in the federal budget 2024-25 would decrease the affordability of health care for low-income people.

In a recently unveiled budget, the government imposed up to 15 percent sales tax on over 200 medical equipment, including the tools used in angiography, angioplasty and diagnostic kits for several diseases.

Experts warned that the sales tax will increase the cost of health care by 25% to 30%, and would negatively impact the budget of the upper and lower-middle-class.

Chairman Healthcare Devices Association Pakistan, Masood Ahmed, expressed serious concerns over the expected imposition of sales tax on all imported medical devices and diagnostic kits. 

He wrote a letter to Premier Shahbaz Sharif and Finance Czar Muhammad Aurangzeb to remove the sales tax from healthcare products.

Moreover, the budget of public hospitals will also increase, ultimately.

According to Ahmed, at least 95 percent of medical devices in Pakistan were being imported from foreign countries.

He said the tax would increase the price of routine tests by a private laboratory up to 30 percent.

In an emergency meeting, former provincial health minister and President of the Private Hospitals and Clinics Association, Dr Syed Junaid Ali Shah, said: “Health care is not a luxury but a necessity.”

He said this budget imposed a 3 percent to 5 percent duty on the health care products that were duty-free. 

Dr Shah and his association demanded the government to grant healthcare providers "industry status".