On Tuesday, March 28, Congress leader and MP from Thiruvananthapuram, Shashi Tharoor, tweeted about how the Union Ministry of Finance came to the rescue of a young girl Niharika and let go of GST so that her life could be saved.
In a post titled ‘Good News Story’ he wrote about the entire incident. “A young couple approached me about their baby daughter, Niharika, who was suffering from a rare form of cancer,” the statement read. The child has High-Risk Neuroblastoma (Stage IV). The only treatment is an injection that costs 65 lakhs.
The doctors suggested immunotherapy treatment for her particularly the administering of Dinutuximab Bita (Qarziba) which costs 10 lakhs (each dose). According to their estimation, the immunotherapy cycle was around 63 lakhs. The parents raised the majority of the funds through crowd raising and donations.
However, the GST levied on these imported medicines increased their financial burden by several lakhs of rupees, which they couldn’t afford. Hence, they sought the help of the ex-minister to request a waiver of the additional GST component on humanitarian grounds.
“They had scrounged and saved and borrowed and crowd-funded to raise the money required but when they imported the drug, they need an additional seven lakhs for GST that they couldn’t afford.”
The former diplomat wrote to the Union Minister informing her of the entire situation. There was no reply and hence the couple pleaded with him again on 26th March. “The injection was stuck at Mumbai airport but Customs would not release it without the GST payment,” he continued.
“I called Mrs Sitharaman directly this time. I told her this baby depended on her exercising her authority immediately because the drug was perishable and would expire while in the custody of the customs. She was instantly sympathetic. She hadn’t seen my letter so I re-sent it,” he stated.
He mentioned the ministry’s prompt response in assisting in procuring the medication for the young patient. “Within half an hour her PS (Personal Secretary), Sernya Bhutia called to tell me she had spoken to the Chairman of the Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs. Within ten minutes Chairman Vivek Johri called me asking for more documents.” He announced that the exemption was granted by 7 pm on Tuesday.
“The family will get their injection, the baby will live, and our exchequer will sacrifice 7 lakhs in GST income to bring life and joy to a small child,” he added. Whenever he has reservations about investing so much of his life in politics, he remarked, that something like this happens and makes it all worthwhile.
He concluded by thanking everyone involved, the FM, the PS and the Chairman for making it possible, and reflected, that their action has reaffirmed his faith ‘in government, in politics, and above all in humanity.’