Fact Check: TMC MP Jawhar Sircar peddles fake news on healthcare tax

The TMC MP claimed that a leading doctor had written a letter stating that the tax on the healthcare sector should be called as misery tax

A tweet has gone viral with the claim tha1.jpegt the government of India had proposed a 5 per cent tax on healthcare in the recent budget.

Trinamool Congress Party's Rajya Sabha MP, Jaawhar Sircar shared an open letter by Dr. Devi Shetty of Narayana Hridayalaya, where he had called service tax on healthcare as misery tax.

"Agree fully with Dr Devi Shetty that Modi-Nirmala's service tax on health services will devastate the middle class and poor. Withdraw this tax!" Sircar had written on Twitter while sharing the letter.

In the letter published as an advertisement in the newspaper, Dr. Shetty had opposed the proposed service tax of 5 per cent on healthcare in the budget. Dr. Shetty while referring to it as 'misery tax' had called on people to assemble at the Governor's house of each state at 11 am on March 12 with a petition seeking to roll back the tax.

Sircar in his post targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for the proposed tax.

When we searched for this news about Dr. Devi Shetty's report we found a report about it from 2011. The report from 2011 and not from 2023 clearly speaks about Dr. Shetty opposing the tax on healthcare provided by private hospitals.

Reports also said that the then finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee had proposed imposing a 5 per cent tax on health care for hospitals which have over 25 beds and amenities such as air-conditioning. Dr. Shetty had also met the then finance minister and urged him to withdraw the proposed tax.

Following that meeting and also the criticism that the then government received, the proposal was rolled back.

"I am happy that the finance minister has decided to roll back the service tax. I met the FM two weeks ago and at that time he was of the view that the tax would hurt the common man and he would like to do something about it," Dr. Shetty said in a statement after the tax was rolled back.

The PIB's Fact Check arm also called out the tweet by Sircar.

"A tweet claims that the central government has proposed a 5% tax on healthcare in the recent #Budget. #PIBFactCheck. This claim is #Fake. The letter attached with the tweet is from year 2011 and is being shared out of context, PIB Fact Check said on Twitter.