Budget 2022 Expectations: 'Extend National Health Protection Scheme for migrant workers; improve healthcare funding'

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to present her fourth budget of the Modi 2.0 government with a mission to boost the economy. The FM has promised that the upcoming Budget will address critical issues of demand generation, job creation, and putting the economy on a sustained 8 per cent plus growth path, as per PTI.

The Budget 2022-23 is likely to be presented on February 1. The wishlist for the government has started to come from the industries. The healthcare industry is also having its own bucket list.

Apart from increasing the healthcare expenditure above 2.5% of GDP, some of the expectations from the Union Budget 2022 from the healthcare sector would be to extend the National Health Protection Scheme for all migrant workers, in addition to the BPL population.

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Speaking on the expectations from Budget 2022 on the healthcare sector, A Rajusiva, Vice President- Technology, Omega Healthcare Management Services said: "Using innovative technologies, social health protection should be extended to the needy and disadvantaged. The need of the hour is to improve healthcare funding through subsidized loans, allocating land for new hospitals, and incentivizing CSR investment by making it a tax-deductible expense."

Allocate budget to include Trauma centers in Primary Health Centers (PHCs), and Community Health Centers (CHCs) as trauma systems come with high financial costs. Traditional invoicing and collection methods don't cover all expenses. Hence, it is imperative to effectively use the standard billing system, he said.

Siva further added that the doctors to people and Nurses to people ratio in India is far less than what was stipulated by the WHO. Increasing the stipend pay of the young medical practitioners, thus incentivizing them to contribute to government service and also helping in reducing the workload of the serving practitioners is the need of the hour. Extra funds and resources must be set aside to enhance the skills of paramedic workers, nurses, and doctors.

"Including all the Life-saving-drugs in the generic category and providing tax cuts on these drugs are essential. The budget should allocate a considerable fund to take care of the first 48 hours of emergency treatment, even in private hospitals, irrespective of the patient covered in either government or private insurances," he said.

Nevertheless, allocating a sufficient budget for the healthcare sector is critical, since it will have a significant impact on the overall economy at large. Given that this is not a one-time occurrence, there is a pressing need to develop a long-term approach for implementing a system to deal with future pandemics, he concluded.

(Disclaimer: The views/suggestions/advises expressed here in this article is solely by investment experts. Zee Business suggests its readers to consult with their investment advisers before making any financial decision.)