Comments
While the government claimed that the allocation for healthcare in the Budget 2021-22 received 137 per cent increase as compared to that in the current fiscal, the actual increase is merely 11 per cent if the funds allocated for Covid vaccination and water and sanitation are excluded.
“The increase in healthcare budget from ₹94,500 crore to ₹2.23 lakh crore is driven in large part by budgetary allocations for Covid vaccinations (₹35,000 crore, accounting for 27 per cent of the increase) and an increase in water & sanitation costs (₹74,500 crore, accounting for 58 per cent of the increase),” said Manoj Garg, Director - Investments at White Oak Capital.
So, excluding Covid vaccinations and water and sanitation expenditure, the remaining healthcare budget has seen a modest increase of 11 per cent. The budgeted expenditure for the Ayushman Bharat Scheme has been kept unchanged at ₹6,400 crore, Garg said.
Also read: Inching closer to the health-for-all goal
“The outlay for covid vaccination with promise for more shows that the government intends to foot most if not the entire bill for vaccinating every Indian. Addition of more critical care units and biosafety level 3 labs shows a focus on healthcare infrastructure development and R&D,” said Ashwin Sapra, Partner, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas.
Vaccine-makers hail move
The decision to allocate ₹35,000 crore for Covid vaccinations was welcomed by Indian vaccine makers. Describing it “a great step ahead”, Krishna Ella, Chairman & Managing Director, Bharat Biotech, which produced Covaxin, said providing more funds in order to contain the coronavirus pandemic spread in the country will lead the country towards accomplishing a Covid-19 disease free Bharat.
But, there are some areas that the Budget could have targeted more. According to Sanjay Singh, Head Life Sciences at KPMG India, it could have helped life sciences sector, which was at the forefront of managing the Covid-19 crisis, by offering direct and indirect tax deductions, policies to promote tele-medicine and upgradation of MSMEs to WHO-GMP quality norms. The Budget has many positives for the sector, Singh said adding that the government hopefully come up with a few more mini-budgets going forward, to fully unlock the growth potential of the life sciences sector.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.