Government, health care sector at loggerheads over new GST Rate
India Today
The decision to levy 5 per cent Goods and Service Tax (GST) was taken at the recently held 47th GST Council meeting.
The GST Council's decision to levy 5 per cent GST on hospital room rent (excluding ICU) if it exceeds Rs 5,000 per day has created distress in the sector and amongst people. The Goods and Service Tax (GST) Council has also decided to levy 12 per cent on bio-medical waste treatment plants.
The decision to levy 5 per cent GST was taken at the recently held 47th GST Council meeting. In the same meeting, it was decided that no input tax credit would be offered.
The rule will be effective on July 18.
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Ficci) has written to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, seeking zero rate GST for health care services to enable service providers to claim input tax credit (ITC).
"Levying 5 per cent on room rent will not just increase the cost of healthcare services to the patients but will also create confusion for hospitals, as room rent is usually the part of the package rate for the treatment. It will lead to deconstructing of the packages, which is against the current practice being encouraged by the government," Ficci said.
According to Gautam Khanna, Chair, FICCI Health Services Committee & CEO, P D Hinduja Hospital & MRC,"This 5 per cent GST will hurt the patients. Hospitals will pass on the additional burden of 5 per cent to the patients."
"The government needs to reevaluate their decision. This will burden the patients, the cost of hospitalisation will go up in days to come," he added.
