Coronavirus: India releases COVID-19 treatment tariffs amid shortages

The Government of the India authorized this Saturday the exception of tariffs on the supply of oxygen, vaccines anticovid, and medical treatments related to the disease, amid the critical situation in the country, which has caused a shortage of stocks.

“In order to increase its production, availability, and meet the growing demand, it was decided to grant total exemption from the basic customs duty and health tax on the importation of oxygen and equipment related to this gas for a period of three months” the Indian Government reported today.

The measure taken after an emergency meeting headed by Prime Minister Narendrá Modi, extends the exception, for the same period, on the importation of covid vaccines.

“This will increase the availability of these items and make them cheaper,” said the Ministry of Finance of the Asian country that also ordered “a fast and smooth customs clearance.”

At the meeting, which took place after the death of 20 patients in a New Delhi hospital due to the low pressure of the tanks, Modi stressed the “immediate need to increase the supply of oxygen” to all centers. from the country.

The Indian Government had already made an exception last Wednesday from the levies on the antiviral Remdesivir and its active ingredients, to meet the demand for the drug, driven by a rapid spread of the disease, with more than 340,000, and 2,623 deaths in the last working day.

This implies a great relaxation of the country’s protectionist controls over its powerful national pharmaceutical industry.

Several hospitals in the national capital have reported the urgency and risk in which their patients are in intensive care, while they have made public their countdown of the consumption of their oxygen reserves.

Despite being recognized as “the world’s pharmacy” due to its large-scale production, the emergence of a second wave of cases, which has far exceeded the first, has put strong pressure on its pharmaceutical industry.

Until the middle of this month, India depended for its vaccination on the only two preparations made in the country: the national Covaxin vaccine from Bharat Biotech; and Covishield, from the British-Swedish laboratory AstraZeneca produced by the Serum Institute of India (SII).

However, in the midst of the emergency, the Government announced the opening of a fast track to approve the use of other imported vaccines that had already obtained a license for use in another country.

This allows entry into the huge Indian market for vaccines made by foreign laboratories such as Pfizer or Moderna.

The Russian Sputnik vaccine has already received the emergency use license from the country’s General Controller of Drugs (DCGI), so it will begin to be imported and manufactured by the Indians in the coming months.