As the budget approaches closer, the healthcare sector is pinning its hopes on Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to further increase the outlay for infrastructure, reduce duties and GST to benefit the industry and the common people. Experts want the government to thrust upon strengthening the digital ecosystem to speed up adoption of new technologies to foster telemedicine for diagnosis and treatment.

“Healthcare should be accorded priority status so that the sector can derive benefit from the GST transition and providers and healthcare service delivery institutions can avail loans at lower rates and extended tenure. It is also essential that the government reduces duty and cess for critical care and life saving equipment and drugs to reduce costs for both providers and patients,” Dr Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, Managing Director and CEO, Fortis Healthcare, said.

“We need greater investment in non-communicable diseases (NCD) programmes as comorbidities are driving pandemic deaths and long Covid ailments. There is an urgent need to allocate a separate budget for a national campaign around preventive health, testing and screening as these are key to reducing the overall disease burden in India,” Raghuvanshi added.

Focus on tier 2, 3 towns

Meanwhile, according to Dr Harsh Mahajan, President, Nathealth, there is a need to provide hospitals in tier 2 and tier 3 towns with adequate infrastructure such as diagnostic centers, oxygen beds, ICUs and oxygen plants through increased budget outlay and greater investments. 

“The sector has not been able to derive the benefits of the GST transition. In fact, the embedded taxes in the sector have increased in the post-GST regime compared to pre-GST scenario. Therefore, it is vital to rationalise GST to unlock the embedded credit which is trapped in the healthcare value chain,” Mahajan added.

‘Extend PLI scheme’

The government should also look at extending the PLI scheme to encourage further investments post Covid that would provide support to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), as per V Ashok, Group CFO of ACG, a pharmaceutical company. 

“Considering India is the largest exporter of pharma products, the government may look at providing appropriate RoDTEP (Remission of Duties and Taxes on Export Products) rates to pharma products exported by the industry to encourage drug exports. The pandemic has paved the pathway for India to become a global pharma hub by 2025, it is the time to sustain the momentum with greater investments, industry-friendly policies and strengthen the digital health ecosystem in India,” he said.

Sporting culture

“Investment in health directly improves the ease of living. It would be great to see targeted schemes that simultaneously build the cognitive and sporting abilities of the youth of the country. A good sporting culture helps to build a healthy nation. The Union Budget should prioritize holistic wellbeing of citizens,” Sai Srinivas, Trustee, MPL Sports Foundation said.

“India’s win against the Covid-19 pandemic is an example of incredible leadership towards strengthening the health systems and introducing and scaling disruptive innovations. However, the sustenance of the reforms and translation across health and wellness systems requires a multi-sectoral commitment leveraging public, private, and people’s partnership. Therefore, the new budget will be critical in terms of provisioning opportunities for the communities, private sector, and civil societies to take the country to a new league of resilient nations, building on the robust results-based governance of India,” Dr. Kaushik Sarkar, Director, Institute for Malaria and Climate Solutions, and Director-in-Charge, Malaria No More India, added.

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