Many believe that the budget has once again put the medical device industry on the backburner.
Healthcare industry experts have mixed reactions to the Union Budget 2022, saying while a boost to the mental health sector is welcome, the budget does not hold much promise for other essential services in the healthcare sector, including the critical medical device industry. Is.
Presenting the Union Budget 2022 in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic on Tuesday, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said the pandemic has exacerbated mental health problems among people of all ages and announced plans to set up a national tele-mental health programme. is of. in India. The minister announced that 23 tele-mental health centers would be started as the nodal center of the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS).
“For better access to quality mental health counseling and care services, a national tele-mental health program will be launched. The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bangalore will provide technical support for the mental health programme,” she said. announced that an open platform would be launched for a national digital health ecosystem and would include digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identities and universal access to health facilities.Additionally, 95 out of 112 aspirational districts, he said Percentage has made significant progress in health and other parameters and now efforts will be made to work on those districts which are lagging behind.
‘Disappointing budget’
Health industry experts have had mixed reactions to the budget with former health ministry secretary K Sujatha Rao tweeting: “Disappointing budget for health and education. Need to remember that roads and ports have no meaning if people are illiterate and ill! And given the trauma we have suffered because of the poor health system, this kind of disdain for these human potential areas is simply irresponsible.
Rajiv Nath, Forum Coordinator, Association of Indian Medical Device Industry, also expressed deep disappointment and anguish, saying that the Union Budget 2022 has again put the Indian medical device industry on the backburner. There is nothing laudable for the healthcare industry in the budget, he added. Mr Nath said the industry was expecting the government to move forward on the promised reforms and expected favorable measures to boost domestic manufacturing of medical devices. Stating that there were no strategic measures to boost domestic manufacturing in the budget, he said these were the same domestic manufacturers that, when imports were disrupted during the COVID-19 crisis, led the government to increase the supply of essential COVID items for the country. Relied heavily to meet demand. To motivate the Indian medical device sector to become self-reliant.
“It is disappointing that contrary to our expectations, the government has not included any measures to help eliminate 80-85% import dependence on India and an import bill of over Rs 46,000 crores and the cost of Indian medical equipment. To promote development. industry in addition to reiterating last year’s assurance of eliminating custom exemptions for products made in India,” he said. “The only positive announcement was by allowing 75% prompt payment on public procurement and bringing in weighted price preference due to quality, which is particularly important in healthcare medical devices,” he said.
The mental health component of the budget came in for praise with Dr Rana Mehta of PwC India saying the pandemic had caused a silent global mental health pandemic. The use of telemedicine for the diagnosis and treatment of such patients was proven to be highly effective, as the unobtrusive nature of the interaction also ensured patient confidentiality. “Given the paucity of mental health professionals, especially in rural areas, telemedicine will significantly increase access for patients requiring psychiatric support,” Dr Mehta said.
Dr. Ravi Wankhekar, former president of the Indian Medical Association, said the ‘devil is in the details’ – digital service is welcome in the health sector but what about data security and patient privacy. These are the biggest dangers.
Dr. Shuchin Bajaj, Founder Director, Ujala Cygnus Group of Hospitals, said, “When we were battling the second wave of a massive pandemic last year, we thought the only silver lining would be that health care facilities The current status of the government in the country will attract the attention of the Prime Minister and the Finance Minister in particular. And we will see a big push toward health care spending, at least for the 3% of GDP the government has been promising for a long time. Unfortunately, we haven’t heard much on health care and education in this budget. Overall, there is no exciting news so far from the budget that we were waiting for.”
Dr. Alok Roy, member of FICCI, Health Services Committee and President of Medica Group of Hospitals, said it was expected that the government would increase healthcare expenditure to more than 2.5% of GDP, but it was not given enough attention.
“Though there was a 137% increase in allocation to the healthcare sector last year, a lot was actually accomplished by the government. Overall, the proposals made in Budget 22-23 should have made quality healthcare accessible and affordable. The government should have focused more on primary healthcare investment and accorded national priority status to the healthcare system, as was done for the IT sector,” he said.
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