This year’s Union Budget comes at a time when there is geopolitical uncertainty across the world, fear of global recession, rising inflation, and a revival in Covid-19 cases in some countries. Just when the Indian economy was recovering from the fiscal consequences of the Covid-19 crisis, fresh cases have been triggering renewed fear and reminding us that healthcare is not a secondary option but a basic necessity and a priority.
Having gone through three waves of the pandemic and looking at the size of India’s population, there is a dire need to put a robust and sustainable healthcare ecosystem in place.
Budgeted expenditure on the health sector accounted for only 2.1 percent of the GDP in 2021-22; hence a higher allocation is expected and needed to take it on par with at least APAC countries.
The innovative schemes launched by the government, such as the Product-Linked Incentive (PLI), Pradhan Mantri National Dialysis Programme (PMNDP), and Phased Manufacturing Plan (PMP), have all proven beneficial and would thus require more attention and allocation for expansion.
