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third wave of the pandemic, with an increase in cases that are now slowly beginning to dip. Now, it remains to be seen the kind of allocation the government provides to healthcare-related sectors and for vaccination, with the Economic Survey having classified the latter as a macroeconomic indicator.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in the Budget 2021-22, had announced a 137% increase in health allocation to Rs. 2.23 lakh crore (Rs. 2,23,846 crore) from the previous year’s budget estimate of over Rs. 94,000 crore (Rs. 94,452 crore) and a 118% increase from the previous year’s revised budget of over Rs. 1.02 lakh crore (Rs. 1,02,873 crore).
The Economic Survey tabled on Monday mentioned that although the pandemic has affected almost all social services, yet the health sector was the worst hit. Expenditure on health sector increased from Rs. 2.73 lakh crore in 2019-20 (pre-COVID -19) to Rs 4.72 lakh crore in 2021-22 (BE), an increase of nearly 73%. The Economic Survey also mentioned that Covid-19 vaccination should be treated as a macro-economic indicator since it is not merely a health response but is critical for opening up the economy, according to the Economic Survey 2021-22. The country crossed the milestone of administrating more than 156 crore doses of vaccines on January 16, 2022.
More than 88 crore people (93 per cent of the adult population) have received at least one dose and around 66 crore people (70 per cent of the adult population) stands fully vaccinated, the Survey pointed out. “Vaccination is not merely a health response but is critical for opening up the economy, particularly contact-intensive services. Therefore, it should be treated for now as a macro-economic indicator,†the Survey, tabled in Parliament on Monday, noted. It is to be seen the kind of budget allocation the government provides for the vaccination this year, even as it started the inoculation drive for teens aged 15-18 and also began to give out booster or ‘precaution’ doses for healthcare workers and those aged above 60 with comorbidities.
FM Sitharaman had in the last budget announced an allocation of Rs 35,000 crore for vaccination against the coronavirus disease. The Budget had mentioned a Rs 33,572 crore ‘provision of financial assistance to meet expenditure on Covid-19 vaccination’ in FY22.
Meanwhile, in addition to the National Health Mission, the Union Budget 2021-22 had announced the Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission, a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with an outlay of Rs 64,180 crore over the next five years to develop capacities of primary, secondary, and tertiary Health Care Systems, strengthen existing national institutions, and create new institutions to cater to detection and cure of new and emerging diseases.
Among the demands by experts for the healthcare sector, Dr. Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, managing director and CEO of Fortis Healthcare, told the Times of India that with Covid cases in India on rise again, hospitals in tier 2-3 towns must be equipped with diagnosis centres, ventilators, ICUS, critical care facilities, and oxygen plants.
“There is an urgent need to allocate a separate budget for a national campaign around preventive health, testing, and screening because these are critical to reducing India’s overall disease burden,†Raghuvanshi said, according to the report.
He also emphasised the importance of giving healthcare priority status so that the sector can benefit from the GST transition and providers and healthcare service delivery institutions can obtain loans at lower interest rates and for a longer period of time. “It is also critical that the government reduces duty and cessation for critical care and life-saving equipment and drugs in order to reduce costs for both providers and patients,†he said.
Dr Harsh Mahajan, president of the Healthcare Federation of India, told TOI that embedded taxes in the sector have increased in the post-GST regime compared to the pre-GST scenario. As a result, he believes it is critical to rationalise GST in order to free the embedded credit that is trapped in the healthcare value chain.
There are also demands for promotion of Genome Mapping projects in this Union Budget. Dr Hima Jyothi Challa, Director, GenepoweRx, told the Mint that that while India has the youngest workforce but with dropping fertility rates and increasing lifespan, the country was going to have a huge surge in health care expenses in the next 10 to 20 years. “The lifestyle disease incidence is doubling every 10 years. It is imperative for the government to get Genome Mapping done, this will provide the much-needed data to discover cures for complex conditions. Government should promote public-private partnerships for Genome Mapping projects,†she said, the report mentions.
According to her, the financial budget 2022-23 should allocate funds for the development of resources that enable monitoring of the genomic-related health status of populations. Also, more grants should be made available for genetic research, she said.
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