It has been decided in the meeting of GST Council that from now on GST will also be imposed in medical field. And the state government is worried about this. This is expected to increase costs in the healthcare sector. The state fears the GST could indirectly affect health cards in the health sector. So the state government is concerned.
At present, about 2 crore 32 lakh families are getting the benefit of health partner card. That number is also increasing again. In that case, the state government has set a cost of Tk 2.5 crore for the health partner this year. However, the state government fears that GST will cost the health partner an additional Rs 120 crore to Rs 125 crore.
At a recent meeting of the GST Council, it was decided that excluding ICUs, 5% GST would be levied on cabin rent over Tk 5,000 and 12% on medical waste management. This will indirectly affect the health partner, the state health officials think.
However, the state government objected to the imposition of GST in this way. According to the state, the GST will impose a new tax burden on the health sector in the face of rising prices of daily necessities. State Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said, “This will put a tax burden on the common man. We have been opposed to such measures from the very beginning in terms of daily necessities and treatment. On the other hand, the state has already started to rush the benefits of the health partner project in several cases. It has been informed in the case of treatment in Vellore, only those cases which are not possible in Bengal can be treated in Vellore. Only then will you get the benefit of health partner card.