Healthcare sector expects greater budget allocation this year

By Himesh Joshi, CEO & Co-Founder, Ayu Health Hospitals

As the country is gearing up for the third wave of the pandemic, the expectations are for greater budget allocation this year into the healthcare sector primarily for genetic research, aiding technology for early diagnosis in order to boost the capacity of our healthcare system to detect and cure new and emerging diseases in the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic. While the schemes like Ayushman Bharath were a step in the right direction, there is scope for amendments in the pricing structure where hospitals can provide high-quality healthcare services without incurring losses and also ease in the issues of delayed payouts to hospitals which are stretching into months for some schemes. The Government could bring in a model to incentivise the private healthcare sector to ramp up infrastructure that could benefit the public at large and set in motion for a strong healthcare system in the country. The government should also work towards ensuring adequate budget allocation towards various government schemes and ensure faster payouts to hospitals, which in turn will incentivize more hospitals to accept these plans.

For startups, the government should look at further easing the regulatory burden, by digitising the overall regulatory process. The government should also engage more people from the startup ecosystem to ensure policymaking stays in sync with innovation. In health-tech specifically, there's a blurring line between healthcare providers and health-tech companies, and therefore simplifications in areas like taxation will go a long way.

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