The decision was taken by the finance ministry following a high-level meeting chaired by PM Modi, in order to boost the availability of these items and make them cheaper.
A COVID-19 patient wearing an oxygen mask is wheeled inside a hospital in Ahmedabad, April 21, 2021. Photo: Reuters/Amit Dave
In view of the crisis enveloping the country due to shortage of liquid oxygen supply for COVID-19 patients, the Ministry of Finance in “public interest” on Friday announced that it would be exempting basic customs duty and health cess on import of a number of oxygen-related goods and COVID vaccines for a period of three months with immediate effect.
The decision was taken by the ministry following a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which measures to increase supply of oxygen and oxygen-related equipment were discussed. The government claimed these measures will boost the availability of these items as well as make them cheaper.
In the meeting, the prime minister reviewed the steps taken to boost oxygen availability in the country. The move comes even as multiple hospitals reported a large number of COVID deaths as patients either did not get any oxygen or admission in hospitals, or the hospital administrations ran out of oxygen supplies.
The meeting acknowledged that there was an immediate need to augment the supply of medical-grade oxygen as well as equipment required for patient care both at home and in hospitals. All the ministries and departments were urged to work in synergy to increase availability of oxygen and medical supplies.
It was also stated in the meeting that basic customs duty was exempted on Remdesivir and its API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) recently. It was suggested that import of equipment related to providing oxygen to patients also needs to be expedited.
Therefore, in order to meet the rising demand, the government decided to grant full exemption from basic customs duty and health cess to oxygen-related equipment for a period of three months with immediate effect.
Items exempted from customs duty, cess
The items which have been exempted from the duty and cess are medical grade oxygen; oxygen concentrator along with flow meter, regulator, connectors and tubing; vacuum pressure swing absorption (VPSA) and pressure swing absorption (PSA) oxygen plants, and cryogenic oxygen air separation units (ASUs) producing liquid/gaseous oxygen.
The other items covered by the decision include oxygen canister; oxygen filling systems; oxygen storage tanks; oxygen cylinders, including cryogenic cylinders and tanks; oxygen generators; ISO containers for shipping oxygen; cryogenic road transport tanks for oxygen; and parts of the above to be used for the manufacture of equipment for production, transportation, distribution or storage of oxygen.
Other devices from which oxygen can be generated have also been exempted along with ventilators (capable of functioning as high-flow devices) with nasal canula; compressors, including all accessories and tubing; humidifiers and viral filters; high flow nasal canula device with all attachments; helmets for use with non-invasive ventilation; non-invasive ventilation oronasal masks for ICU ventilators; and non-invasive ventilation nasal masks for ICU ventilators.
Following the meeting, the department of revenue nominated joint secretary, customs, Gaurav Masaldan, as the nodal officer for issues related to customs clearance for the above-mentioned items.
The Centre also stated that to augment oxygen and medical supplies, Indian Air Force planes are bringing in cryogenic oxygen tanks from Singapore and that they would also be transporting oxygen tanks in the country to reduce the travel time.
SOURCE ; THE WIRE
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