The Metabolic Errors and Rare Disease (MERD) organisation of India has urged the government to slash or waive import duties levied on life-saving diets required for children with metabolic diseases in the country.
 

The demand by the parents' association comes as many families of children with metabolic error find it difficult to afford such diets which now attract 30 to 40% import duties. Currently, India reports nearly 50,000 newborns with Inborn Errors of Metabolism (IEM) in which the body cannot properly turn food into energy. On an average, a parent of an affected child has to spend Rs. 2.5 lakh per year on treatment, including buying Food for Special Medical Purposes (FMSP) diets.

According to the association, companies like Danone, Nestle, Mead Johnson, and Abbott are importing FSMP diets at high duties and further levy GST on them. But, in many other developing countries, these diets attract only 5 to 10% duty. According to MERD India, such speciality foods were not readily available in India until 2017 and the family of the kids suffering from IEM used to struggle with paperwork for permission to import these.

Various government authorities, including the Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda, have been approached seeking reduction in the import duty for the special diets. "Through this support group (MERD), we have been campaigning about IEM and special diets required for the survival of children with such problems", Vikas Bhatia from MERD India told IANS. "Screening is required so that the problem can be diagnosed for many newborns which helps give them a better shot at a normal life. The need of the hour is to reduce or exempt the import duty on such special diets as this will help in the survival of such children." The MERD also wrote to the Director General of Health Services (DGHS) seeking exemption from import duties, noting that "in view of the importance and urgency of the problem worldwide, there are cases where these diets are being reimbursed by the governments of the respective countries". 

"In view of the importance of these diets for our future generation, we would request you to exempt the import duties levied on these life-saving diets in view of non-existence of these products in the country," reads the letter addressed to Special DGHS B.D. Athani. Earlier, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India in collaboration with various bodies including Infant and Young Child Nutrition Council (IYNCI) had launched Diet4Life -- an initiative that allowed import of "special diets" for patients suffering from IEM. However, the main concern of duties still prevails.