Praja Arogya Vedika (PAV) has demanded that the Centre abolish Goods and Services Tax(GST) on COVID-19 drugs and equipment for at least one year or till the pandemic was wiped out.
In a statement on Sunday, PAV general secretary T. Kameswara Rao and president M.V. Ramanayya while hailing the decision of the Centre to abolish the GST on drugs used in the treatment of mucormycosis (black fungus) cases, only reducing the GST from 12% to 5% on COVID-19 drugs and that too till September was not the right solution.
They said that a third wave was being predicted by scientists sometime in September and it was estimated to continue till around January/February 2022. The pandemic was financially crippling the poor and middle classes and withdrawing the GST in September would cause further hardship to them, they said. The PAV leaders also sought removal of the GST on COVID-19 vaccines.
