Cancer Survivor moves HC as Customs dept withholds imported Feeding Tubes

On Tuesday, the High Court of Bombay issued notice to the Customs commissioner of Mumbai after a cancer survivor filed a plea complaining that his feeding tubes imported from the USA have been withheld by customs authorities.

The Mumbai resident in his plea said that in Dec 2016 he was diagnosed with oral cancer & due to remedial surgical operations his intake of food is only possible through feeding tubes. He added that the feeding tubes aren't available in India & need to be imported from the USA as there is no alternative available.

Given the situation, he said, he imports necessary feeding tubes from the USA & maintains a stock. He said since his stock was depleted, he imported 4 boxes of the feeding tubes labelled ‘Osmolite Nutrio N-Food for Tube Feeding Patient’ from the USA through a courier, but the assistant commissioner of customs, Air Cargo Complex at Sahar in Andheri, has withheld the packets “on grounds which are unclear to the petitioner”.

He moved the HC on Tuesday for urgent relief contending that he had a limited stock available with him which will last only a few days.

Acting on his petition, the bench of Justices SJ Kathawalla & NR Borkar has issued notice to the customs authorities asking them to remain present in Coeither personally or through their counsel & explain “the difficulty in releasing the packets containing feeding tubes.”

The HC has posted the plea for hearing on Thursday.

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