ASSISTANCE SOUGHT BY KIDNEY PATIENTS
There is crying need for Government Assistance for the welfare of kidney patients
Following urgent actions are suggested :
Insurance Schemes
Measures to ensure that all citizens of the country gets medical coverage
Make Employees State Insurance (ESI) compulsory in all private institutions including educational institutions
Welfare schemes
Rehabilitation schemes shall be introduced for kidney patients
Introduce concessions in all sectors for kidney patients and their supporting relatives
Introduce concessions in both private and state transport corporation buses at par with railway concession for kidney patients
Reservations for children of kidney patients in private and government schools and provide educational supports including fee concessions
Introduce employment schemes tailor made for patients suffering kidney diseases or have undergone transplant operation
Increase organ availibility
Promote cadaver transplant for increasing organ availability by introducing generous incentives for relatives for the dead person, advertisements in media, compulsory retrieval of cadavers as done in developed nations, removing hurdles for retrieving organs from cadavers etc.
Promote living donor transplant and encourage willing donors by providing introducing incentive schemes and reservations for the living donor. Unfair kidney trade must be stopped by government stepping in to provide fair deal to the willing donors for their sacrifice.
Promote donor organ swapping by facilitating mass transplant operations where a group of patients and willing donors come together and donors with matching kidneys are swapped
Increase organ transplant infrastructure in government hospitals to highest standards
Medical Infrastructure
Subsidise medicines and medical accessories used by kidney patients to reduce their financial burden
Increase the number of dialysis units available in hospitals and make available affordable dialysis to all patients.
Other Measures
Promote medical research in the field of kidney diseases and introduce mechanisms to share information
Introduce a national directory for organ transplant
National policy for organ transplant and monitoring machinery to ensure better availibility of donor organs
Promote private sector and NGO involvement in supporting kidney patients
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Income Tax Act benefits for Kidney Treatment
DEDUCTION IN RESPECT OF MEDICAL INSURANCE PREMIA.
(1)
In computing the total income of an assessee, there shall be deducted,
at the following rates, such sum as is specified in sub-section (2) and
paid by him by cheque in the previous year out of his income chargeable
to tax, namely :- (i) In a case where such sum does not exceed in the
aggregate ten thousand rupees, the whole of such sum; and
(ii) In any other case, ten thousand rupees.
Provided
that where the sum specified in sub-section (2) is paid to effect or to
keep in force an insurance on the health of the assessee, or his wife
or her husband or dependant parents or any member of the family in case
the assessee is a Hindu undivided family, and who is a senior citizen,
the provisions of this section shall have effect as if for the words
“ten thousand rupees”, the words “fifteen thousand rupees” had been
substituted.
(2)
The sum referred to in sub-section (1) shall be the following, namely
:- (a) Where the assessee is an individual, any sum paid to effect or
to keep in force an insurance on the health of the assessee or on the
health of the wife or husband, dependent parents or dependent children
of the assessee;
(b)
Where the assessee is a Hindu undivided family, any sum paid to effect
or to keep in force an insurance on the health of any member of the
family;
Provided
that such insurance shall be in accordance with a scheme 1001c framed
in this behalf by the General Insurance Corporation of India formed
under section 9 of the General Insurance Business (Nationalisation)
Act, 1972 (57 of 1972), and approved by the Central Government in this
behalf.
Explanation
: For the purpose of this section, “senior citizen” shall have the
meaning assigned to it in the Explanation to section 80DDB.
Section 80DDB
DEDUCTION IN RESPECT OF MEDICAL TREATMENT, ETC.
Where
an assessee who is resident in India has, during the previous year,
actually incurred any expenditure for the medical treatment of such
disease or ailment as may be specified in the rules made in this behalf
by the Board – (a) For himself or a dependant relative, in case the
assessee is an individual; or
(b)
For any member of a Hindu undivided family, in case the assessee is a
Hindu undivided family, the assessee shall be allowed a deduction of a
sum of fifteen thousand rupees in respect of that previous year in
which such expenditure was incurred :
Provided
that no such deduction shall be allowed unless the assessee furnishes a
certificate in such form and from such authority as may be prescribed.
Provided
further that the deduction under this section shall be reduced by the
amount received, if any, under an insurance from an insurer for the
medical treatment of the person referred to in clause (a) or clause (b)
:
Provided
also that where the expenditure incurred is in respect of the assessee
or his dependant relative or any member of a Hindu undivided family of
the assessee and who is a senior citizen, the provisions of this
section shall have effect as if for the words “forty thousand rupees”,
the words “sixty thousand rupees” had been substituted.
Explanation
: For the purposes of this section, “dependant” means a person who is
not dependant for his support or maintenance on any person other than
the assessee.
