My expectations for the budget 2022 include:

Affordable treatment

Healthcare needs to be affordable to reach every Indian. One of the foremost expectations is to reduce the GST on healthcare products, current GST on healthcare insurance is 18 per cent which should be reduce to encourage people to buy healthcare Insurance

Tele-medicine

Tele-medicine is suitable for India, because it addresses the need to treat remote areas with shortages of medical professionals. We are having a significant portion of the population residing in remote areas, resulting in high transportation costs.

Telemedicine could become a viable solution if coupled with government projects to provide more reliable access; key hurdles to overcome for telemedicine are reliable electricity and internet in outlying areas.

Startups

Startups are playing a vital role in the healthcare sector which includes treatment for tier III & rural areas. To encourage startup, government should announce subsidies and another welcome view can be interest free loan for startups

Encourage the use of technology

After the pandemic, instead of pushing technology, it’s become a pull strategy and proven fact is technology can bring down the cost (affordability) & accuracy. Looking for reduced import duties on healthcare products.

Smart Government Hospital

Looking forward to the announcement of a smart government hospital driven by Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence which can optimize the resources.

National Digital Health Mission

If UIDAI (Aadhaar) is the backbone for India to become a developed nation, then National Digital Health Mission (NDHM) is blood flow. Government must allocate budget for planning & implementation of NDHM

New Hospital

Encourage the setting up of hospitals in tier II-III cities by extending the tax break, thereby increasing the number of job opportunities in these locations.

Make in India

Like IT Parks, Bio-Technology Parks need to be established and strengthened to support existing and new entities. If we want to truly Make in India, the manufacturing ecosystem would need to be nurtured with technology, capital and skilled resources.

Improved Cold Chains would ensure vaccines and critical medicines are not spoilt by the climate fluctuations.

Views expressed by Anuroop Sehgal, Cluster IT Lead (North), Fortis Healthcare Limited

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