Rule 62 — Issuance of prescription in respect of certain diseases and ailments for the purpose of deduction under section 128. Made under s.128 of the Income-tax Act, 2025.
Rule 62 gives effect to Section 128 of the Income-tax Act, 2025. A rule cannot go beyond the section it serves: where the two seem to differ, the section governs.
Sub-rule (1) requires that, for claiming the deduction under section 128, the prescription for medical treatment of an eligible disease or ailment in column B of the Table be obtained from the specialist named against it in column C. The Table has five entries. Entry 1 covers neurological diseases where the disability level has been certified to be of 40% and above — dementia, dystonia musculorum deformans, motor neuron disease, ataxia, chorea, hemiballismus, aphasia and Parkinsons disease — and requires a Neurologist having a Doctorate of Medicine (D.M.) degree in Neurology. Entry 2 covers malignant cancers and requires an Oncologist with a D.M. In Oncology. Entry 3 covers full blown Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (aids) and requires any specialist having a post-graduate degree in General or Internal Medicine. Entry 4 covers chronic renal failure and requires a Nephrologist with a D.M. In Nephrology or a Urologist with a Master of Chirurgiae (M.Ch.) degree in Urology. Entry 5 covers the hematological disorders hemophilia and thalassaemia and requires a specialist with a D.M. In Hematology.
Sub-rule (2) admits an equivalent qualification: the prescription may also be issued by a specialist holding a degree equivalent to the one in column C, if that equivalent degree is recognised by the Medical Council of India. Sub-rule (3) relaxes the requirement for treatment in a Government hospital — there the prescription may be issued by a full-time specialist with a post-graduate degree in General or Internal Medicine, or any equivalent degree recognised by the Medical Council of India, whatever the disease. Sub-rule (4) prescribes the format of the prescription: name of the patient, age of the patient, description of the disease or ailment, and, under "Certified by", the specialist's signature, name, qualification, address and registration number, with the name and address of the hospital if the specialist is working in a government hospital.
Section 128 allows a deduction for expenditure on the medical treatment of specified diseases, but a deduction that turns on a diagnosis needs someone competent to make it and a document that records it. The rule answers both: it matches each disease to the specialty qualified to certify it, and fixes a short format so the certificate carries the specialist's registration number and can be checked. Sub-rule (3) keeps the deduction reachable for patients treated in Government hospitals, where the treating doctor may not hold the super-specialty degree column C names.
| What | Figure | The condition on it | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Certified disability level for the neurological diseases in entry 1 | 40% and above | Applies only to the eight neurological diseases listed in entry 1; the other four entries carry no disability threshold | Rule 62(1), Table Sl. No. 1 |
The 40% disability certification is a condition of entry 1 alone. It does not travel to malignant cancers, aids, chronic renal failure or the hematological disorders, none of which the Table qualifies by a disability level. The prescribing doctor decides whether the prescription is valid, not the treating hospital: for every entry except aids the Table demands a super-specialty degree, and a general physician's prescription will not support the claim unless either sub-rule (2) applies, because his degree is recognised by the Medical Council of India as equivalent, or sub-rule (3) applies because the patient is receiving treatment at a Government hospital. Chronic renal failure is the one entry with two acceptable specialties, a D.M. In Nephrology or an M.Ch. In Urology. The format in sub-rule (4) is not decorative — a prescription without the specialist's registration number does not answer it.
A taxpayer pays for his dependant's treatment for thalassaemia at a private hospital and files a prescription from the treating physician, who holds an md in General Medicine. That does not meet entry 5, which requires a specialist with a D.M. In Hematology, and sub-rule (3) does not help because the treatment is not at a Government hospital. Had the same patient been treated at a Government hospital, a full-time specialist there with a post-graduate degree in General or Internal Medicine could have issued the prescription under sub-rule (3).
You meet it as the prescription kept with the return and produced when the section 128 deduction is questioned; the format in sub-rule (4) is what the document has to look like.
The prescription for eligible diseases or ailments mentioned in column B of the Table in sub-rule (1) may also be issued by a specialist holding a degree equivalent to the degree mentioned in column C thereof, if such equivalent degree is recognised by the Medical Council of India.
the prescription for medical treatment in respect of eligible diseases or ailments mentioned in column B of the following table shall be obtained from the specialists as mentioned in the corresponding column C thereof