Healthcare plays a vital role in the lives of people and having a robust healthcare system is very important for every country. The pandemic completely altered the dynamics of the Indian healthcare ecosystem underlining the importance of higher budget allocation. A robust healthcare system calls for higher budget allocation for improving the healthcare infrastructure in the country. 

The pharma sector which has played a leading role as the ‘pharmacy of the world’ said it expects support and incentives especially for research & development and innovation in the coming budget.

 “The pandemic has reiterated the need for increased investment in healthcare infrastructure, national level programmes for skill development and training of healthcare staff, increase in number of medical colleges, effective PPP models and further boost for local manufacturing,” said NATHEALTH president and Apollo Hospitals Executive Vice-Chairperson, Preetha Reddy.

 “Private healthcare providers are hopeful that there will be additional incentives to aid the sector in business recovery and also enable expansion across tier 2-3 cities - through provision of land at subsidised rates to set up hospitals, tax relief for new infrastructure creation, import duty relief for life saving equipment and ease of GST regulations for healthcare services,” she added.

Talking about Digital Health services she said that Digital Health services found their rightful space during the pandemic and there is a need to expand and support the essential backup services to enable digital healthcare to function efficiently in all primary and secondary healthcare centres.

Highlighting the importance of higher budget allocation for healthcare, Fortis Healthcare MD and CEO, Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, said, “The current situation demands increased budgetary impetus for improving healthcare infrastructure at primary, secondary and tertiary levels, and also to enable the healthcare sector’s speedy recovery.” 

 “Our overall strategy must integrate preventive and curative services and make healthcare more affordable and accessible for the people of India”, he added.

Similarly, Aster DM Healthcare Founder Chairman and MD Azad Moopen, said, “It is important to at least double the healthcare budget from last year’s meagre allocation. This would help improve access to affordable care for the masses.” 

Regarding expectations from the budget for the pharma sector, Indian Pharmaceutical Alliance (IPA) Secretary General Sudarshan Jain said, “The overall policy ecosystem should help increase thrust on healthcare and build healthcare infrastructure to cater to the societal needs as healthcare is fundamental”.

Mr. Jain said that the industry is asking for measures such as incentivizing investment by pharmaceutical companies in R&D and Innovation by reintroduction of 200 per cent tax deductions on R&D related expenses, providing direct funding support to academia and industry and easing access to external sources of funding.

Batting for the incentives for the pharma sector, Indian Drug Manufacturers’ Association (IDMA) Executive Director Ashok Kumar Madan said, “For the ensuing budget, we have proposed for the restoration of the 200 per cent weighted tax deduction under section 35(2AB) of the Income Tax Act for the pharma sector”.

 “We have suggested the withdrawal of customs duty exemption on the APIs which are being and can be manufactured in the country to provide a level playing field to Indian pharma industry,” Madan said.

In addition to that, Medical Technology Association of India (MTaI) urged the government to reduce customs duties and rollback health cess in Union Budget 2021-22 to help the medical device sector overcome the severe financial crisis created by COVID-19 pandemic.