- The Union Finance Minister announced the exemption of customs duty on three cancer treatment drugs: Trastuzumab Deruxtecan, Osimertinib, and Durvalumab.
- The budget also proposed changes in the basic customs duty on X-ray tubes and flat panel detectors for medical X-ray machines under the phased manufacturing program.
- The total health sector outlay is ₹89,287 crore, amounting to 1.85% of the Budget expenditure, up from 1.76% from the Revised Estimates for Budget 2023-24.
- This remains below the 2% mark for health outlays from FY18 to FY22.
- The government will operationalize the Anusandhan National Research Fund for basic research and prototype development, with provisions for enhanced private sector-driven research and innovation at a commercial scale, financed by a ₹1 lakh crore pool.
Dig Deeper: Read about NexCAR19 India’s first approved CAR-T cell therapy.
