‘Union health budget has positives, but more needs to be done’

Union health budget and state response

The Union budget has positives in health sector, but more could be done, say experts. Dr M K Sudarshan, Chairman of the state Covid TAC, said that the hike in the allocation for the health and family welfare ministry was a positive step.

However, Dr C N Manjunath, Director of the Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research, said the allocation of 2.1% of GDP for the health sector was still low. “In most countries, it’s around four per cent of GDP.”

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He said the Centre’s support is needed for reducing deaths from cardiovascular diseases and road accidents.

“In India, 30% of deaths are caused by cardiovascular diseases. It should have been declared as a ‘disease of national importance’, like cancer was, so that state-run cardiology institutions can get funds from the Centre for more manpower, high-end equipment, etc,” he said.

“Also, 11-13% deaths in India are from road traffic accidents. There should be more trauma centres at key locations, along with air ambulance facilities, to avoid delay in shifting patients. All states should also have a high-end Centre-sponsored polytrauma centre, as the poor spend a lot for such treatment in private hospitals,” Dr Manjunath said.

The budget announcement of co-locating 157 nursing colleges with existing medical colleges is positive, said public health specialist Dr Sudha Chandrashekhar. “We don’t have enough doctors, so we need a good cadre of trained nurses to provide nurse-based care. Since the nursing colleges will be co-located with medical colleges, nursing students will pick up stronger skills,” she said.

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Public health doctor Sylvia Karpagam said that training was important for other healthcare professionals like pharmacists and lab technicians too, and that nurses’ job appointments should be on permanent rather than contract basis.

Dr Karpagam said that the Centre’s increased budgetary allocations should not be diverted to the private sector through insurance schemes, privatisation of medical colleges, etc. While the budget announced opening up of ICMR labs to public and private research institutions, this could result in dilution of ICMR’s role of overseeing clinical trials and lead to conflict of interest, she added.

Raghu Dharmaraju, member of the Lancet Citizens’ Commission, appreciated the focus on using Artificial Intelligence in healthcare.

Dr Taslimarif Saiyed, CEO of the health startup incubator C-CAMP, said that the budget for setting up Centres of Excellence in pharma research is a positive measure.

“They can be built in such a way that industry and startups can be part of them. Also, while allocations have been made for tele-mental health, a system can be developed for early-stage screening at the population level.”