Union Budget 2025-26: Key Healthcare Measures for Cancer Care and Access to Life-Saving Drugs

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Union Budget 2025-26: Key Healthcare Measures for Cancer Care and Access to Life-Saving Drugs

NextEdge Admin

01 Feb 2025

2 min 22 sec

The Union Budget 2025-26 introduces key healthcare initiatives, particularly in cancer care and life-saving drug accessibility.

A major highlight is the establishment of Daycare Cancer Centres in district hospitals, with 200 centers planned for 2025-26. This aims to improve cancer treatment accessibility and ease the burden on major hospitals.

To make critical treatments more affordable, customs duties on 36 life-saving drugs, including cancer and rare disease medications, have been fully exempted. This builds on previous duty reductions for drugs like Trastuzumab Deruxtecan, Osimertinib, and Durvalumab. Additionally, six more essential medicines will now have a 5% concessional duty, and 37 new medicines have been added under the Patient Assistance Program to expand financial support.

Trastuzumab Deruxtecan: An ADC used to treat HER2-positive breast cancer and gastric cancer, effective in targeting and delivering chemotherapy directly to cancer cells.
Osimertinib: A targeted therapy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with EGFR mutations, effective in inhibiting cancer growth, especially after resistance to other treatments.
Durvalumab: An immune checkpoint inhibitor used to treat NSCLC and urothelial carcinoma by boosting the immune system's ability to recognize and destroy cancer cells.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has been allocated ₹99,858.56 crore, demonstrating the government’s commitment to improving healthcare infrastructure and services.

These measures aim to enhance accessibility, affordability, and infrastructure, ensuring better support for cancer patients and individuals with rare diseases.