Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced in the budget that the cost of three medicines used in the treatment of cancer would come down due to the exemption of customs duty on the drugs.
This will reduce the burden of cancer treatment and will benefit nearly 2,000 cancer patients in Marathwada every year.
Three cancer drugs-Trastuzumab Deruxtecan, Osimertinib and Durvalumab are quite expensive and have been fully exempted from customs duty.
Experts said that the Deruxtecan drug can be used in all cancers with HER2-positive gene while Osimertinib and Durvalumab are used for lung cancer treatment. However, Durvalumab is used for biliary tract and lung cancer as an immunotherapy.
Dr Balaji Shewalkar said that the Government Cancer Hospital (State Cancer Institute) alone receives approximately 400 to 500 patients of HER-2 positive breast cancer, lung cancer, and gall bladder cancer in a year.
The district has five to six big hospitals which provide cancer treatment facilities.
Other districts of the region also have hospitals. Therefore, hundreds of cancer patients will benefit from three medicines becoming cheaper.
District secretary of the IMA city branch Dr Vikas Deshmukh said along with cancer drugs, customs duty on many medical devices, including X-ray machines, would also be reduced and benefit patients.