Ahead of the Budget 2018, BioSpectrum takes quotes from the people in the industry on how it should be. Here are the suggestions:

Mr. Surajit Chakrabartty, CFO, MedGenome. 

Government should take steps to bring together academia and industry 

“Biotech is an emerging sector which needs government push to tackle the burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases. The government should aim at creating a conducive atmosphere of fostering research, development and innovation, if it really wants its dream of Make in India drugs/biomarkers/biosimilars, a reality. We expect the budget to make provisions for increased public health spending, investing in building and maintaining public health infrastructure, setting up new medical academies and consider making health insurance mandatory for all. Ensure public health spending is utilized in an efficient manner by involving representatives from corporate sector, research institutes and bureaucrats to oversee the progress and guide accordingly. Priority status to healthcare sector including hospitals & diagnostic centers and incentivizing technology-driven companies would boost expansion of healthcare services across the country. Apart from budgetary allocations, the government should also take steps to create an ecosystem that brings together academia and industry to boost innovation in healthcare.”

 Dr Anitha Arockiasamy, President, India Home Health Care.

Government should focus on addressing non-communicable diseases

We feel that the budget should focus on allocation of resources and adequate funds for skill upgradation of not only doctors but also nurses too. There is also a need to introduce new innovations in the home healthcare segment, and encourage the availability of care at home, thus freeing up hospital beds and helping patients recover at their homes at a lower cost. We feel that the government needs to have initiatives in place to spread awareness about healthcare, especially geriatric care, in semi-urban and rural areas as this is developing to be a highly needed service with the changing demographics and disease patterns. There are growing concerns about increase in non-communicable diseases such as cancer, heart related ailments, diabetes among others and we expect that government will focus on addressing these diseases.

Ms Ameera Shah, MD & Promoter, Metropolis Healthcare

Budget should address the National Health Protection Scheme

 "This year has been an important one for healthcare. Various initiatives ruled under the National Health Policy have helped in larger strata of the Indian population to access medical services at affordable prices. Post introduction of GST, the tax rate on medical devices was pegged at 12%, this, if reduced further can positively affect the overall cost structure thereby providing cost effective healthcare services to the society. The last budget had a lot of focus on policy direction and targets for elimination of chronic diseases which is laudable. In addition to increased spending, we also hope that this year’s budget will address the National Health Protection Scheme and set impetus to generate demand for health insurance through additional exemptions.”

Mr. Manish Sacheti, CFO, Ziqitza Healthcare Ltd

Amendments should be made for better public healthcare services  

 "We hope that the Union Budget 2018-19 offers a major relief to the healthcare scenario in our country. While the Government has introduced various amendments in the budget last year there are still persistent issues which should be addressed this year. With more than 68% of people living in the rural areas, amendments should be made for better public healthcare services in the interiors of the country. Investments should be made in increasing the number of health professionals in the public health sector. Also, very little importance is given to the Emergency Medical Services which plays a crucial part in saving lives of people. The Government should invest in establishing skill centres which can train paramedics who are well versed in handling accidents and various other emergencies, as this will help the quality of emergency response services in our country. The government should allocate budget to develop technology that will help in reducing the time taken for an ambulance to reach the emergency. This can be in form of advanced GPS technology, live traffic monitoring and updates, fitness devices that can monitor health and transfer emergency signals in real time. If a push is given to the Emergency Medical Service (EMS) sector, it will, in turn help the healthcare professionals to save more lives."