Kathmandu – The Nepal Chemists and Druggists Association (NCDA) has expressed its gratitude to the Director General of the Department of Customs for successfully arranging to impose only 5% customs duty, as per the previous provision, on therapeutic-dose vitamins and vitamin-combined medicines used for patient treatment.
Previously, due to the fact that pharmaceutical distribution channels in Nepal were not registered under VAT, customs offices had started levying 15% customs duty and an additional 13% Value Added Tax (VAT) on vitamin-based medicines. This had caused a significant increase in the market price of such medicines, leading to difficulties in distribution and posing a risk of shortages in the market.
On Thursday, a delegation from NCDA — including Central President Mr. Prakash Kumar Khandelwal, Immediate Past President Mr. Mrigendra Mehar Shrestha, Vice President (Import) Mr. Ram Chandra Sharma, Treasurer Mr. Samrat Man Joshi, Bagmati Province President Mr. Dhruba Narayan Shrestha, and Lalitpur District Branch President Mr. Indra Bir Maharjan — visited the Customs Department office in Tripureshwor and formally thanked the Director General.
The delegation also requested the Director General to issue directives for refunding the deposit amounts submitted for the release of vitamin-related medicine consignments that had been held at customs due to the earlier imposition of 15% customs duty and 13% VAT.
NCDA stated that this positive decision will help ease the supply of medicines across the country and contribute to providing quality treatment services to patients at a reasonable cost.
