Call to abolish tax on cancer treatment equipment

LAHORE:An NGO has demanded the government abolish custom duties on diagnostic equipment, especially mammogram and ultrasound machines, prioritise breast cancer treatment in the health budget and health cards.

Pink Ribbon has been tirelessly working to break the taboo and raise awareness on the issue of breast cancer for the last 16 years. The organisation observes PINKtober as breast cancer awareness month which aims at disseminating information regarding breast cancer prevention, detection and treatment to save more than 40,000 women dying of cancer every year.

This year to take this campaign to the next level Pink Ribbon has developed a “Breast Cancer Patient-Centric” framework to provide a solution to the problems faced by the patients. The NGO CEO Omer Aftab has presented some recommendations to the government. They are to waive off custom duties on diagnostic equipment, especially mammogram and ultrasound machines, availability of diagnostic facilities at the DHQ level, prioritise breast cancer treatment in the health budget and health card, subsidise medicines, allow the import of all medicines for the treatment.