Budget 2022: Healthcare sector awaits a booster dose from FM Nirmala Sitharaman

Dr Vispi Jokhi, Chief Executive Officer, Masina Hospital, Byculla, Mumbai says, “The expectations from the union budget for the healthcare sector relating to an increase from 1.8 % in the outlay of the budget to at least 2.5% of the GDP this year. This has become an oft-repeated demand. In view of the state of health care following the devastating effect of the Covid pandemic, some concessions to the industry are in order. These relate to the relaxation of norms for treating indigent and weaker section patients free of cost and at a heavily subsidized cost. The 2% to be set aside for this purpose should be reduced. The cost of compliance relating to fire safety norms and other infrastructure norms need to be reduced by providing special pricing for equipment relating to the same for hospitals. Going forward a policy to deal with pandemics in the future must be formulated where a consultative approach on public-private partnerships is to be adopted. The budget must provide for your universal health insurance with a reasonable pricing structure to enable charitable trust Hospital to participate in the same.”

Dr Vivek Talaulikar, CEO, Global Hospital in Parel, Mumbai says that we hope that the government will continue spending on the healthcare sector in the upcoming budget, as India is yet to fully vaccinate its population and Covid-19 is far from over with new variants being reported across the world,” says 

“There is an urgency to come up with long-term strategies and roadmaps to put in place a system to deal with the future pandemics. The pandemic has put the spotlight on the state of PHCs in rural areas and highlighted their significance in early detection of cases and providing quick help before health conditions become more severe,” he adds.

“The last budget got a cut in health expenditure, which came as a surprise to all as we were still fighting the pandemic. Whereas, actually, it was an indicator that the government perceives that the worst is behind us and we are now on the path of economic recovery. Thus this year’s budget allocation will show us how the government perceives the future position of the pandemic. Additionally, since the pandemic has exposed so many fault lines in the healthcare system, there is a dire need for investment in good medical infrastructure. This will not only help us for any future pandemic but will also improve the state of healthcare in the country even more. The idea is to make healthcare available and affordable to all fellow citizens, which is only possible through the collective efforts of public-private partnerships. I applaud our government for being thoughtful, and I hope that the allocation to the sector will be higher than in the past,” says Anurag Yadav, CEO – IHH Healthcare India.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, the healthcare sector has been a primary priority for all today.

“It is important to expand our universal healthcare plans and invest in technology to overcome the rural-urban healthcare divide and make healthcare accessible to everybody in the country. The Centre’s current healthcare spending is anticipated to be 1.2 per cent of GDP (National Health Accounts, 2016-17) and is expected to rise to 2.5 per cent by 2025. I also feel that significant spending in healthcare can assist the country’s economy. The necessity is to focus more on raising awareness about the importance of preventative healthcare, especially in light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. It will be critical to have clear rules in place to ensure that healthcare is both accessible and inexpensive. It would be fantastic to observe how resources are allocated within states according to policy,” Rohit Jha, Executive Director, Jain Multispecialty Hospital.