The medical bills at a private hospital are soon going to rise, with the GST Council having decided to levy 12% GST on the service of collecting biomedical wastes from hospitals. In the last meeting, the GST Council decided to withdraw the exemptions on the facilities that collect biomedical waste and dispose of it according to the prescribed guidelines. 

There are around 200 operators of Common Bio-Medical Waste Treatment Facilities (CBMWTF) in the country including 25 in Gujarat. An association of these operators from Rajkot, represented to Union Finance Minister, Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman last week and urged her to continue this exemption for the next five years. Mr. Vinod Kachhadia, President, CBMWTF Association of India stated that for the last two years, they have been disposing of the most contagious COVID wastes, without charging an extra amount from the hospitals. He also added that most of the facilities have a turnover under Rs 3 crore and the GST contribution from these facilities will be meager. 

Dr. Praful Kamani, Former President, of Rajkot Medical Association, stated that the tax burden will ultimately reflect on the patient’s bill. He added that the corporate hospitals are already taking the charges of the medical record room from the patients. Now the hospitals will add an extra column in the patient’s bill to collect the GST component on biomedical waste collection after the GST is imposed.