RAJKUMAR DAS
Reaction to Union Budget 2024-’25, allocation to healthcare
by Mr Rupak Barua, President, Association of Hospitals of Eastern India
(AHEI) and Managing Director & CEO, Woodlands Multispeciality Hospital
Ltd. The healthcare fraternity had an expectation of an allocation of at least 2.5%
of the GDP but that wish was not fulfilled as the actual allocation remained
at 2%. In comparison, the global trend is allocation of 9.5% of the GDP for
health. Also, sadly, the percentage allocation for health is the lowest in India
among the G20 countries.
Such low allocation stands in the way of infrastructure development in
healthcare, which is imperative if healthcare is to be made accessible and
affordable to the common man. According to the WHO, the ratio of hospital
beds per 1,000 population should be 3.5, whereas in India we have just 2
beds per 1,000 population. It is extremely important to bridge this gap at the
earliest and it can happen only through infrastructure development.
Another bane of healthcare in India is the high out-of-pocket expenses that
the common man has to incur. This can be attributed to insufficient
government infrastructure in tertiary care facilities, necessitating people to
access private infrastructure, which comes at a price, and is often
unaffordable in a country with low penetration of health insurance. There are
government schemes for free treatment in private set-ups but the rates
offered are too low to cover the operational expenses of private hospitals.
The Union Budget, however, deserves kudos for exempting three cancer
medicines and some healthcare equipment and spares exempt of Customs
Duty. The announcement of setting up new medical colleges, facilities which
will eventually ease the pain of suffering patients in the region, is also
welcome. It is not clear exactly at which locations the medical colleges will
come up but we expect more specific announcements shortly.
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