Patients with renal diseases came in for a special mention in the Budget with the announcement of a National Dialysis Services Programme. But that said, there seems to be little on offer for healthcare, as several demands remain unmet.

Under the programme, dialysis services have been proposed in all district hospitals. The programme will be implemented under the National Health Mission and funded through public-private partnerships.

Each year 2.2 lakh patients with end-stage renal disease are added, and the existing 4,950 centres are unable to fulfil this demand. Dialysis costs a patient over ₹3 lakh annually.

“To reduce the cost, I propose to exempt certain parts of dialysis equipment from basic customs duty, excise/countervailing duties and special additional duty,” said Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Rana Mehta, Partner and Leader, Healthcare, PwC India, said that private dialysis centres are growing by about 15 per cent annually. The proposed programme has the potential to increase growth, from 9 per cent in public dialysis facilities, to between 15 and 17 per cent, he said.

Vivekanand Jha, Professor of Nephrology at PGIMER, Chandigarh and Executive Director, George Institute for Global Health (India), however cautioned the government on implementation as “there is a danger of marketplace ethics drowning quality.”

The Budget also announced a new health protection scheme, under which an annual cover of ₹1 lakh will be provided to each family, with an additional ₹30,000 for senior citizens. The scheme targets economically weak families. It is unclear if this is just an extension of the existing Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, under which each family gets ₹30,000 annually on hospitalisation.

“ If this (₹1 lakh) is still only going to be for hospitalisation and not cover OPD services and drugs then its impact on out-of-pocket expenditure may not be as much. We need more clarity on this particular aspect,” said K Srinath Reddy, President, Public Health Foundation of India.

Jan Aushadhi

The Budget also spurred interest around the Jan Aushadhi Scheme, introduced in 2008 and re-invented multiple times since. About 3,000 new Jan Aushadhi stores are to be opened in 2016-17, the Budget said. By March 31, 300 stores are expected to be operationalised.

The Finance Minister announced a massive increase in the budgetary allocation for health with a plan outlay of ₹11,359.53 crore — recording an increase of over 47 per cent over the revised estimate of ₹7,718.90 crore in the ongoing fiscal year.

However, as a percentage of the total central outlay the allocation stands at just 1.6 per cent, well below the recommendation for the sector.

The total Budget estimate for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare stands at ₹39,533 crore. “The allocation for health in this budget has been increased by 22 per cent over the previous year’s budget estimate. However, despite the increase in budgetary allocations this year, the under-funding of health remains a concern. The relative importance to health in the budget remains the same,” said Poonam Muttreja, Executive Director, Population Foundation of India.

On a different note, the Finance Minister has done away with the 14 per cent service tax for health insurance provided under the ‘Niramaya’ Health Insurance Scheme for persons with autism, cerebral palsy, mental retardation and multiple disability. A move that will hopefully see the benefits trickle through to those who need it.

comment COMMENT NOW