Taxes, duties on dengue test kits waived

The government has waived all kinds of import tax, value added tax and other duties on the dengue test kits, dengue reagents and test kits for counting platelet and measuring plasma in blood as the hospitals across the country are plagued by shortage of the tools.

The announcement came in a statutory regulatory order issued by the National Board of Revenue on Monday afternoon.

The taxes, including import duty, value-added tax, advance tax and advance income tax, on import of the dengue test kits, dengue reagents, platelet and plasma test kits have been withdrawn, said the SRO.

According to the SRO issued by NBR’s customs wing, importers would be able to avail the concession for the quantity of kits and reagents approved by the Directorate General of Drug Administration.

The duty-free import facility will remain effective up to October 31, it said.

Previously, a total of 11.67 per cent taxes and duties were applicable on import of the dengue test kits, 37.75 per cent for the dengue reagents and 17 per cent for the platelet and plasma test kits.

DGDA director Ruhul Amin told New Age on Monday that they had given NOC to importers so that they could import dengue test kits in a short time without hassle.

The DGDA also wrote to the customs authorities to ease the import of the test tools considering the national crisis, he said.

In eight days till Sunday, at least 3.92 lakh dengue test kits arrived in the country to meet the growing demand for the kits.

A total of 86,000 kits would arrive by Monday midnight, Ruhul said.

‘We have set a target to import 10 lakh dengue kits this month,’ he said.

Diagnostic Reagents Traders and Importers Association president AKM Kamruzzaman told New Age that last year the demand for dengue test kits was merely one lakh units.

He said that they expected the demand for the kits to rise to 10 lakh this year.

Meanwhile, Health Services director general Abul Kalam Azad said on Monday that although the dengue positive cases were significantly low, many people with fever were rushing to hospitals.

He urged the people not to get panicked and consult doctors before running for dengue test.

‘If doctors don’t advise you to run the test, you don’t need to get panicked,’ he said.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net