Budget should enable inclusive healthcare ecosystem: Numen Health CEO

Pallav Singh, CEO, and Co-Founder of Numen Health

"The global pandemic underscored India's need for a more robust and resilient healthcare system. The segment still needs to be served and could flourish with more private and public investments, partnerships, and technology development. We are hopeful that the 2023 budget will have significant allocations for building better preventive care facilities and give due recognition to this often-overlooked segment within healthcare. Preventive care is a vital link that can significantly help reduce medical costs, lower the stress on the healthcare system and enable early detection of life-threatening health conditions like cardiac disease. Measures like lowering the GST for preventive healthcare will help companies rationalize their costs and pass on these benefits to their patients.
The industry would also benefit greatly from government intervention through funding and grants and the development of maker spaces within engineering and medical colleges to encourage innovative technology development in healthcare. Digitization has had a profoundly positive impact on healthcare, lowering costs and burdens and improving access. For instance, we have observed that digital therapeutics in preventive care can reduce the overall load by more than half, especially in the chronic care segment. Government intervention in bringing digital therapeutics under the gamut of insurers would be highly beneficial to the industry.
We hope the 2023 budget will enable a more inclusive healthcare ecosystem with improved access to quality preventive, primary, and tertiary healthcare across urban and rural India."