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Smarting from the service-tax on cashless health insurance introduced last Budget, hospitals are hoping for a reprieve this year from the Union Finance Minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee.
The service tax of 10.3 per cent introduced last Budget on cashless health insurance is a bone of contention between hospitals and health insurance companies, said Mr Deepak Samant, Director (Finance) with the Hinduja Hospital.
At present, the burden of paperwork and paying it to the Government is on hospitals. It needs to be scrapped as it is the consumer who is really forking out that extra amount, he added.
Agreeing with this observation, Ernst and Young's Partner (health-sciences), Mr Hitesh Sharma, points out that the burden of compliance needs to be on health insurance companies, who already undertake similar practices. Given the several things that are already on the plate of healthcare companies, service-tax compliance adds to their burden, he said.
Single-window
Hospitals have also been seeking infrastructure status for several years now. But with Finance Ministers not heeding their demand, the industry seeks a single window clearance, says Mr Samant.
Setting up new hospitals and getting equipment involves huge investments and the Government needs to put in easier processes to facilitate more hospitals in the country, he said. The Government needs to encourage medical device makers to innovate and make products in India, so that prices become more affordable and the overall cost of healthcare also goes down, he observes.
Government spend
Also sorely required is an increased spending by the Centre on healthcare, something that the Government has said it would do, though not visible on the ground, says a hospital representative.
The Government has to encourage public-private partnerships to encourage more hospitals to come up in smaller centres, besides increasing the training of manpower, he said.
In fact, the Centre also needs to move towards encouraging para-medicals as a primary screening point, to reduce the burden on doctors, observed Mr Sharma.
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