01 February 2022 | Views
Dr Harsh Mahajan, President, NATHEALTH
"The speedy roll-out of the digital health mission, move towards provision of unique health identity, up-gradation of two lakh angadwadis, alignment of national skill framework with industry needs and value-based procurement augurs well for modernisation of healthcare in the post-pandemic era. The launch of the tele-mental programme has brought mental health issues to the forefront which will better access to quality mental health counselling. Focus on promoting R&D in the field of AI, genome sequencing and pharma is a much-needed demand being fulfilled. We congratulate the Government on record GST mobilisation, however, the embedded credit issue in the healthcare sector remains unaddressed, and we hope to soon find a viable solution acceptable to the government. There is also a need to create fiscal incentives for investments/PPP in both hospital and out-of-hospital delivery models like telemedicine, home care, senior care and long-term care. We request the government to consider lowering the cost of financing capital, free flow of credit into the sector especially for the build-up of new infra and capacity and continue investment in incentivising capacity build-up of supply-side levers through PPP like medical education, diagnostic and device manufacturing."