Dr. Shyam Bhat, Chairperson, LiveLoveLaugh, said, “The pandemic and its aftermath have aggravated mental health issues, and this situation requires renewed focus. Therefore, it is encouraging to see plans in this year’s annual budget to bolster mental health care infrastructure in the country. The setting of new mental health institutions and a national tele mental health program provide a robust platform for more research, better treatment and follow-up, and an overall improvement in health outcomes.
We look forward to the implementation of the policies announced in this year’s budget”.
Dr Veena Aggarwal, Trustee Dr KK’s Heart Care Foundation of India, said, “The Budget for the year 2022-23 has been presented by the government today. We had great expectations from the budget concerning an increase in healthcare expenditure, mainly because of the Covid pandemic, which has exposed the inadequacies in the public health infrastructure and the disparities in the healthcare system. But again, health appears not to be a priority directly. However, the government announced the launch of a national tele-mental health programme comprising a network of 23 tele mental health centres of excellence with NIMHANS as the nodal centre to acknowledge the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of the people.
The government also announced an open platform for the National Digital Health Ecosystem consisting of digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identity and universal access to health facilities. Two lakh anganwadis will be upgraded with better facilities; 80 lakh affordable houses by 2023.
Personal IT slabs remain the same. Now taxpayers can file an updated return within two years from the end of the relevant assessment year.”
Nilesh Aggarwal, CEO, IJCP Group, founder of Medtalks and eMedinexus, said, “The focus on e-learning and exploring digital mediums for continued education is a welcome step for all sections of the society. The finance minister announced opening platforms for the National Digital Health ecosystem that will consist of digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identity and universal access to health facilities. It will be important towards building a more independent health ecosystem and providing equitable access to health facilities, and better accountability of the health service providers. We are ready to support the government on digital upskilling with our large bank of upskilling and CME courses. The national tele mental health is an important step, especially given the mental issues caused by the pandemic. MEDtalks has several mental health courses for healthcare professionals and other digital support tools to empower the public about their mental health. We had, however, hoped for a much bigger focus on healthcare given the Covid pandemic so that we can attract more investment in the sector.”
Mr Siddharth Shah, Director, Bharat Rubber Works Pvt. Ltd., said, “India has been in the category of developing world whereby it had to wait for years before it could begin vaccinating against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Many, especially those our age, are perhaps unaware that there was a time when India used to rely extensively on foreign aid to ensure adequate food supply for its large population.
It was beyond imagination that India would manage to vaccinate a significant proportion of its population within two years of a pandemic outbreak – a historic first that points to the transformation it has witnessed over the years.
There were expectations for more PLI-based schemes, but an increase in cargo and a boost in supply chain infrastructure were much needed, which were heavily fractured during the pandemic. Also, it will boost in enhancing productivity. They will be vital to sustaining this momentum, thus accelerating sectoral growth and consolidating India’s global pharma value chain position.
It’s the right time to invest and increase production capacity for quantity and quality production.”
Mr. Harish Iyer, Head of Finance, Carestream, said, “Key expectations from the budget were ways and means to accelerate healthcare sectoral. It included increased public spending in health care to 2.5-3% of GDP as envisaged in the National Health Policy 2017, Reduced GST rate on medical equipment and devices, and the abolition of levy of cess on imported medical equipment. The Union budget does not give clear directions on this front and has no blockbuster announcements. However, welcome measures such as the rollout of National Digital Health Ecosystem with digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identity and universal access to health facilities & Exemption on certain medical devices & drugs and medicines for which sufficient domestic capacity exists ( fine print awaited to understand this better ) are practical measures. They would have far-reaching consequences for Healthcare Sector in India.”
Dr. Puja Kapoor, Paediatric Neurologist & Co-founder of Continua kids, said, “The fight against the pandemic is, of course, the highest priority; hence the obvious focus is on COVID vaccination. Apart from that, I am glad to know that the government has introduced the ‘National Tele Mental Health Programme’ to provide better quality access to mental health counselling and care services.
The healthcare sector has been given prominence in the National Digital Health Ecosystem budget. This open platform will improve access to healthcare facilities for all sections of society. Insurance for specially-abled or disabled people can now be taken by their parents, which is a significant development that will relieve them. Moreover, allotting better infrastructure and audio-visual aids to Saksham Anganvaris will enhance the environment for early childhood development.”
Dr. Harshit Jain, Founder and Global CEO Doceree, said, “The high point of the budget is its focus on mental health. It shows the government’s commitment to creating a holistic health environment. The pandemic has had a visibly damaging impact on people’s mental well-being. The situation compounded as another epidemic we were facing simultaneously – the mental health epidemic, which was global. The proposed national tele-mental health programme will create a supportive environment for people to talk about emotional issues they counter daily and help remove the stigma that we have around mental and emotional problems. Also, the decision to create an open platform for the National Digital Health Ecosystem is yet another move to digitise healthcare in the country which surely has a far-reaching impact on making quality healthcare accessible to all.”
Mr. S.N. Rao – Managing Director, Supreem Super Foods, said, “The Union Budget 2022 – 23 paves the road map to the development of the economy in the long run. The declaration of 2022-23 as the “International Year of Millets” has come to us as ample bright sunshine of hope. This year’s plan of encouraging millet production with higher emphasis on exports and reduced import dependency will propel our industry into a much more stable path after a period of struggle.
Another big boost for MSMEs, in general, is the extension of the Emergency Credit Line Guarantee Scheme for another year. Moreover, a reduction in corporate taxes will also help drive our economic output.
While there might not be a direct benefit to the sector, announcements towards the development of digital infrastructure and the digital economy at large will provide significant impetus towards the growth of the retail industry. With a heavy focus on expanding highways and logistics, it will also help boost supply-chain support towards the sector.
The Budget 2022 seems to have a drive towards infrastructure growth, digitisation, and skilling, which will influence retail on the go.”
Mr. Rajendra Mehta, Director, Sales & Mktg., Glowderma, said, “Budget 2022-23 is here to transform the healthcare sector with its allocation of Rs 64,180 crore to be spent over the next six years to improve healthcare services. We look forward to a sizeable growth in the coming months supported by this generous initiative by our honourable finance minister.”
Mr. Kapil Jain, the CEO, Nicholas Healthcare, said, “Healthcare sector is expected to be encouraged by the budget with the boost provided by its significant provisions that will lead to continued investment in capacity expansion in various segments leading to an exponential growth.”
Mr. Naresh Kumar Garg, Managing Director, Pearl Precision, said, “We welcome the Budget 2022-23 as it has accommodated a wide range of measures that shall inevitably contribute towards the growth trajectory of the industry. We look forward to achieving a better ROI in the months ahead.”
Mr. Apurv Agrawal, Co-Founder, Avni, said, “The pandemic has unravelled a lot of loopholes in the Indian healthcare system. Certainly, health was to stay a priority in the budget. The budget announced the launch of an open platform for the National Digital Health Ecosystem. It will provide easy access to the available health facilities and health providers. The absence of the right information had created a ruckus during the first and second waves of covid. We are glad that the government took note of the same and has now resolved the challenge too.”
Mr. Tarun Gupta, Co-founder, LISSUN, said, “As a result of the pandemic, a lot of entrepreneurs had stepped forward to address the challenge of rising mental health issues in India. The cases of depression and anxiety disorders witnessed an increase of about 25% globally and by 35% in India alone. The National Mental Health Programme and Health and Wellness Centres alone could not have reached every individual in the crisis that they might face struggling in a moment. Easy access was the primary point of concern for everyone trying to help with the issue. The government has recognised this and addressed the same by launching Tele mental health service. The budget inculcating the fact that focusing mental and emotional wellness is the need of the hour itself talks about how progressive we are becoming in our approach as a nation.”
Dr Preet Pal Thakur, Co-founder, GlamyoHealth, said, “The primary challenge in delivering good health services was the lack of awareness and access. A person sitting in tier 2 city might not even know about the presence of a probable medical facility to his current challenge. With the launch of the open platform for the National Digital Health Ecosystem, this particular gap will be filled in a single go. As the budget mentioned, the platform will consist of digital registries of health providers and health facilities, which will serve the purpose of access and availability of information.”
Puneet Aggarwal, Founder & CEO of Nirogam, sai”, “It is indeed a Booster Budget for the country’s healthcare sector and the overall economy. Allocation of Rs 64,180 crore for the Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana is a commendable initiative for holistic healthcare development where equal attention is paid to preventive health, curative health, and well-being. More evidence of the government’s seriousness for this sector in this budget is apparent in its plan to establish 12 central institutions while strengthening the National Center for Disease Control and expanding the health information portal to all states and UTs connecting all health labs.
Now, healthcare facilities will be accessible to all in urban and rural India because the decision of setting up 17,000 rural and 11,000 urban health and wellness centres will be instrumental in overcoming healthcare disparities. Moreover, the establishment of a regional World Health Organisation office, nine bio-safety level 3 laboratories and four regional National Institutes of Virology will further reduce the disparity between urban and rural healthcare infrastructure.
Rs.1200 crore are also allocated for comprehensive medical support to pregnant and lactating mothers, childcare services, and people suffering from non-communicable diseases. Free diagnosis and medical drugs are also promised for each section. If things are implemented on time, we will soon witness one of the world’s best healthcare sectors in India.”
Dr. Angeli Misra (MD Path), Founder & Director, Lifeline Laboratory, says, “The diagnostics industry has been ignored in the new budget. There is a deep sense of disappointment at no significant allocation of additional funds to boost India’s healthcare infrastructure. The diagnostic equipment manufacturing industry continues to bear a heavy tax burden, as there is no reduction in customs and excise duty and tax exemptions on imports for an industry that is heavily dependent on imports (86%). The launch of an open platform for a National Digital Health Ecosystem, a focus on building domestic capacities by encouraging public-private partnership, and the promotion of R&D to provide universal access to health facilities for all, is, however, a welcome move.”
