The health sector has found a prominent place in the government’s agenda over the past few years, and it has increased even more amid this pandemic. The Union Budget 2021–22 has already paved a strong foundation to make the health sector future ready and to make it more resilient than ever in the post-COVID-19 era and to achieve Universal Health Coverage by 2030 as part of India’s commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Multiple waves of Covid-19 pandemic have made gaps in the Indian Healthcare Sector more visible to policymakers around access, affordability and availability of healthcare services.

Through the Budget 2022-23, the Union Government will try to achieve two prime objectives; one is to keep on providing support to existing transformative policies and programs and other one is to launch innovative initiatives which will be well integrated horizontally and vertically to make the Indian Healthcare Sector truly future ready.

Focused Areas and Expectations from Healthcare Budget 2022:

1. The Health Sector must be given a status of Priority Sector and Sector of National Importance. OECD countries spend 7.6% of GDP on Health, BRICS countries spend around 3.6% of GDP on Health. India spends less than 2% of GDP on Health, which is very less. Budget 2022-23 must allocate 3.5% of GDP in real terms towards Health. These funds must be well allocated within the Health Sector covering Public Health, Health Infrastructure, Healthcare & Allied Professionals, Pharmaceuticals and Life Sciences, Medical Devices and Medical Technology, Research and Innovation, Wellness, Sanitation and Nutrition. Funds once allocated can be monitored by existing N-FAMS (National Finance and Accounts Management System) to ensure efficient utilization.

2. Aatma-Nirbhar Bharat Initiative must be embedded in the health sector in its totality and spirit. All activities around health research and innovation, life sciences, critical medical device technology and its supply chain, digital health and medical technology, diagnostic and therapeutic solutions must be incentivized for more and more local reliance and growth within the ecosystem. Measures in terms of customs duty benefits favouring local players, GST benefits or reduced taxation burden across entire supply chain ecosystem, ease of doing business and quick access to funds to these local players will be of great push towards Aatma-Nirbhar Bharat which will further reduce cost of care in India and will have favourable impact on reducing out of pocket expenditure (OOPE) on Health. Start-up ecosystem and Make-in-India movement and its utilization in the Health Sector must be promoted by the Union and State Government. Smart City like ranking and awards can be launched exclusively for the health sector to promote the same among all stakeholders. Next Unicorn can definitely be found around the health sector in the near future. JAM Trinity and its value must be unlocked to identify and prioritize areas to focus to improve Health Outcomes.

3. Backing High Performing Policies and Programs of government on Health like PMJAY (Ayushman Bharat), National Digital Health Mission, National Health Mission, IDSP, Communicable and Non-Communicable Disease Control Programs, Immunization and Vaccination Programs by the Union Government must be the core focus of Budget 2022-23. Uninterrupted Funding, strengthening implementing agency and feedback driven real-time collaborations with state governments must be formally mechanized and reviewed under the ambit of Budget 2022-23.

4. New initiatives like empowering and converging various deliverables under the aegis of National Health Authority (NHA) at central and SHA (State Health Agency) at state level and running them like formal organization with defined organization hierarchy, authority and responsibility matrix with overarching governing board representing various stakeholders (govt. and non-govt. both) must be the roadmap to make the health sector more comprehensive and future ready with lean structure. Now is the time for the Government to have empowered Indian Health Service (IHS) cadres carved out of UPSC and deputed at District and grassroot level from bottom to up approach and converging at SHA and NHA will go a long way in strengthening the health sector.

5. Envisioning 100 Smart Health Cities in line with Smart City framework and focused promotion of 360’ Health Services within that will help boost health infrastructure at tier 2 and 3 cities across length and breadth of India. Facilitating Medical Hubs and creating Health Economic Zones like SEZs will attract local and foreign investment in Health and bridge gaps in demand and supply of healthcare services.

6. At an Individual level, tax benefits under various provisions of the IT Act must be such that will make taxpayers better plan and provide for preventive, promotive and curative health of an individual and families alike.

The Budget is a medium to set the tone for reform and I believe Budget 2022-23 will be pivotal and the present Union Government seems committed to focus on long term transformative reforms around the health sector in this year’s Budget.

Dr Biren Chauhan, Group Chief Operating Officer, Sunshine Global Hospitals, Gujarat

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