Union Budget Duty Exemption Aims to Ease Rare Disease Treatment Costs in India

India's Union Budget has exempted customs duty on medicines for certain rare diseases, aiming to reduce treatment costs. Despite this, patients like 17-year-old Nayan with Hunter's Syndrome and 19-year-old Revathi with Gaucher disease face high expenses due to imported, limited-supply drugs. The National Policy for Rare Diseases offers one-time funding up to Rs 50 lakh, but many patients exhaust this support, leaving families to cover ongoing costly treatments. Access and affordability remain significant challenges.