The Union Budget-2022 has evoked mixed reactions from corporate hospital managements and public health professionals here.
“During the pandemic, we saw an immense contribution of startups to innovation in healthcare, and the extension of the tax benefits for another year would encourage more startups in the health tech space to come up and invest in research and development, especially in the field of AI-powered smart wearables and predictive healthcare. This will, in turn, be invaluable in strengthening our fight against non-communicable diseases, which can otherwise derail the economic recovery by impacting our productive demographic,” said Apollo Hospitals Group chairman Prathap C. Reddy.
Executive Director of SLG Hospital, D.V. S. Soma Raju said while the existing healthcare machinery in India stood up to the challenge and did its best to keep a possible disaster under check, this sector needed a fresh impetus to enhance and strengthen the healthcare net across India.
“The Finance Minister, in her Union Budget speech, announced levying of ‘health and education cess’ for the year 2022-23, but did not specify where this additional money would be utilised. I strongly feel the government must directly invest or encourage more private investments in the healthcare sector to ensure semi-urban and rural locations receive quality healthcare facilities,” opined Dr Soma Raju.
President of Infection Control Academy of India, Ranga Reddy Burri said primary healthcare has been neglected in the Budget and could financially burden people in the coming days.
Explaining its importance, he said that robust primary care helps in the early detection of diseases, which could prevent chronic stages or complications arising out of it. “The overall health expenditure, be it out of pocket, or money spent by State and Central governments can be substantially brought down by strengthening primary healthcare in urban and rural localities,” said Dr Ranga Reddy.
A digital health ecosystem will go a long way in providing a national registry of the healthcare infrastructure of the country, opined chairman and managing director, Rainbow Children’s Hospital, Ramesh Kancharla. National Digital Health Ecosystem, National Tele Health Mental Health Program were a welcome move, said managing director of Ankura Hospital for Women & Children Krishna Prasad, CEO-CARE Group of Hospitals Jasdeep Singh, and Kamineni Hospitals COO Gayatri Kamineni.
“Overall, I would say the budget looks progressive. However, I had hoped for more benefits for the other essential services under healthcare,” said Mr Jasdeep.
There was also a section of healthcare professionals who termed the Budget ‘disappointing’ and declined to comment further.
