Budget will have a positive impact on the digital and health infrastructure of the country. Setting up a national tele mental health program to provide counselling and support to patients fulfills an urgent, long-felt need of an overlooked health challenge.
As expected, Budget 22-23 was a balanced effort to improve overall economic growth. Today, the healthcare sector in India is at a much stronger position than ever before. Measures introduced in Budget 2022-23 will further strengthen the healthcare sector while focusing on prevailing challenges.
Dr. Rakesh Gupta, Chairman, Sarvodaya Hospital, Sector 8, Faridabad
“A bold budget that lays down a 25-year roadmap for India to become a truly digital economy. The announcement regarding establishment of the National Digital Health Ecosystem is significant. It will make the health sector much more efficient and bring it into the modern age. Mental health has emerged as a silent epidemic in the last few years. Setting up a national tele mental health program to provide counselling and support to patients fulfills an urgent, long-felt need of an overlooked health challenge. Upgrading two lakh anganwadis with better infrastructure will have a positive effect on child health. There is no significant increase in budgetary allocation to health for FY 22-23, which is a bit disappointing considering how the Indian healthcare system struggled to meet the challenge of the epidemic. However, all in all, it is a very well thought out budget that will have a positive impact on the digital and health infrastructure of the country.”
Dr. Roy K George, National President, The Trained Nurses Association of India (TNAI)
Finance Ministers announcement of an open platform for the National Digital Health Ecosystem which will consist of digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identity and universal access to health facilities is a welcome move. Indian Nursing Council has been working towards implementing a Live Register (Nursing Registration Tracking System) which is a is a web-based application to enable creation of live register of the nurses across the country.
We are happy that a national tele mental health program for counselling is also being announced today. The pandemic has been especially difficult for healthcare workers as well as they have been affected by psychological and mental issues. We believe that a compromise on the mental health of our nurses and midwives will adversely affects healthcare delivery, patient care and safety.
We are also hopeful that the announcement of Rs 64,180 crore (Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission) will help strengthen capacities of primary, secondary, and tertiary Health Care Systems, including existing national institutions, and create new institutions to cater to detection and cure of new and emerging diseases. India has battling shortage of nurses and midwives for years now and we are hopeful that some initiatives will be taken to improve basic infrastructure for the overall development of the cadre.
Arjun Ananth, CEO Medall healthcare
“At the outset the Union Budget 2022 the launch of National Tele Mental Health program will better the access to quality mental health counseling which has accentuated mental health problems in people of all ages. There could have been focus on primary healthcare centres and preventive healthcare diagnostics, which has become a necessity in the wake of the third wave. The Union Budget 2022 seems to have its sights set on the long term with a major push towards Digital Healthcare Ecosystem, and no major announcements or tax breaks that would have worked as an instant relief to the Healthcare sector. The much-anticipated goods and services tax (GST) streamlining and the introduction of input tax credit (ITC), if implemented, would’ve introduced the liquidity that the industry was hoping for.
Pompy Sridhar, Director – India, MSD for Mothers.
“It was heartening to see the impetus on Public-Private Partnerships by the finance minister in her #Budget2022 speech. The overall response to the pandemic witnessed both public and the private sector working in tandem as one health system that people could trust. The stellar vaccine coverage couldn’t have been possible without such partnerships. As a nation we are today better equipped in bringing quality healthcare services to the people under the overall guidance of the government.”
Dr. GSK Velu, Chairman & Managing Director, Trivitron Healthcare and Neuberg Diagnostics
The rollout of a National Digital Health Ecosystem will ensure that all segments of the society are able to access affordable and adequate healthcare in a seamless and efficient manner. Such an ecosystem can potentially make universal healthcare a reality for India.
Further, the fact that mental health counselling and care services found a place in the budget is a testament to how far we have come as a country. Inarguably, the Covid pandemic has adversely affected the mental health of the population at large. Thus, the launch of a National Tele Mental Health program can play a catalytic role in both normalising conversations around mental health as well as ensuring that people are able to seek support for mental health related challenges.
Though there was not much for the medical devices industry directly in the Budget, the industry will benefit from the Government’s increased focus on healthcare. The National healthcare mission outlay has been kept at ~37,000 crores like previous year and this is a bit disappointing, considering the fact our healthcare infrastructure needs big boost in the coming years. The demand from all healthcare experts was to increase healthcare outlay in the current budget.
