Budget 2020: Expansion of Ayushman Bharat scheme to bridge gap between secondary and tertiary care, says Max Bupa's Ashish Mehrotra

Budget 2020: Hailing the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in Parliament on Saturday, Ashish Mehrotra, MD & CEO, Max Bupa Health Insurance said that moves like allotment of Rs 69000 crore to healthcare sector and expansion of Ayushman Bharat scheme are welcome moves. He said that the fund allotted will help in ensuring the wellbeing of all citizens of the country.

"The Union Budget 2020 takes a holistic approach to enable growth at a grassroot as well as industry and corporate level. The clear focus of the budget is to make healthcare more accessible with increased infrastructure, as the investment on the healthcare sector has gone up from the previous year. The allocation of additional Rs. 69000 crores is a significant step to improve the overall wellbeing of the citizens of the country," he said.

He added that the expansion of Ayushman Bharat scheme is another big step to fulfil the need gap in secondary and tertiary care, especially for the economically weaker sections of the society.

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"The scheme has benefited many people since its launch who needed medical care but didn’t have adequate funds to support. Ayushman Bharat scheme has also played a huge role in increasing awareness and acceptance of health insurance amongst all sections of the society," he said.

Mehrotra said that the setting up of more hospital infrastructure in Tier-II and III cities under PPP model via viability gap funding, will further be a boost for the healthcare ecosystem and benefit the underprivileged families which were devoid of basic medical facilities.

"India has recorded highest out of pocket expenditure on healthcare, as compared to other developing countries. The measures proposed in the budget will support to regulate the gap and play an important role in making health a priority for one and all and creating further awareness for health insurance," he said.

Apart from this, the finance minister also announced that it will eradicate Tuberculosis (TB) by 2025.