"The Finance Minister's proposal regarding establishing 157 new nursing colleges is a welcome move. As we know, several new hospitals are opening every year, but there is a dearth of skilled healthcare workers. So, this move will help to fill this gap, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. The government has also proposed a multidisciplinary course for medical devices for skilled manpower. Also, we should take pride in the fact that 220 crore Covid vaccines were given to 102 crore people. It highlights our strong healthcare strategy to tackle a health crisis of such magnitude in such an overpopulated country. As per the budget speech, a new programme for research in pharmaceuticals will be formulated and the industry will be encouraged to invest in research. We should invest in research at a grand level now and support from the Government in this direction is a welcome move. It is also great to know that leading industry players will partner in conducting interdisciplinary research, and develop cutting-edge applications and scalable problem solutions in the areas of agriculture, health, and sustainable cities. However, a few other areas like GST rationalization in healthcare, gap funding on infrastructure in building hospitals in Tier 2 cities, and rural India in terms of capital contribution and subsidy, should have been addressed as well in the budget."