While presenting the annual budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday proposed doubling health spending to 2.2 trillion Indian rupees ($30.20 billion). The budget is aimed at reviving the economy that plummeted into the deepest recorded recession in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Over the next six years, the government will introduce a new federal health system with an outlay of about 641 billion Indian rupees ($ 8.80 billion), Nirmala Sitharaman told Parliament.
India, which has the second-highest caseload of coronavirus in the world after the United States, currently spends approximately 1% of its gross domestic product on health, which is among the lowest in any global economy.
“The budget speech had an undertone of the Government’s focus on ease of doing business in India. The FM reiterated that tax systems to be transparent, efficient and promote investments in our country. The tax rates, surcharge, cess etc. have been left untouched. Even the much debated Covid Cess was not brought out. This brings stability and certainty to the tax framework. Definitely a positive move,” said Tapati Ghose, Subject Matter Expert, Deloitte India.
Indian doctors, economists and analysts lauded the Union Budget 2021 that included a ‘remarkable’ 137% increase for health and wellbeing sector. Experts not only noted that Sitharam introduced health and wellbeing as the first pillar of the economy but also said that the increase in the budget for the health sector will definitely strengthen health services.
