As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present Union Budget 2022 on 1 February, the healthcare sector has urged the government to increase spending on genetic research.
Several healthcare companies and consultancy firms have come up with their recommendations on the Budget. Likewise, Lissun and Glamyo Health have recently released a pre-Budget expectations booklet. The consulting firms have recommended strengthening the rural hospitals with the flexibility to select beneficial years and viability gap funding by the government for setting up hospitals in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities.
“Fair and impartial digital focus on healthcare is need of the hour. We hope the government allocates more funds to health tech, enabling even the rural population to fall under its ambit. Owing to India’s young population, SaaS is maturing, and health-tech would help stabilize the shortage of medical manpower in the country. More budget in health-tech would also make it a lucrative space for investments and start-ups, in turn helping the government to achieve its aim of 1:1000 doctor/patient ratio by 2024, which is a WHO-recommended norm. Besides, the pandemic has taught us that creating home care health infrastructure is an absolute necessity. Investment in health tech can bridge this long and short-term industry gap. Moreover, we have seen mental health cases rise in the past year. However, insurers in India seldom offer policies that cover non-hospitalization treatments or OPD reimbursements. This means that unless mentally ailing patients get hospitalised, they won’t be eligible for coverage. Insurance covers, thus, naturally exclude therapy and psychiatric counselling coverages. IRDA should push for OPD reimbursements for psychology therapy and counselling,” said Mr. Krishna Veer Singh Co-Founder and CEO, Lissun.
Archit Garg, Co-founder of Glamyo Health said, “The pandemic has unravelled the gaps in the Indian healthcare system. However, with the startups coming into the picture, new and innovative solutions have come up. The way RBI treated NBFCs and fintech as its extended arms to penetrate deeper into the system, the Indian government can consider healthcare startups as its aide to serve the common people in tier 2 and tier 3, thus strengthening the healthcare ecosystem in India. Besides, new programs like Unified Health Interface shall further help in transparency and affordability in Health Treatments. We expect a continued allocation towards healthcare startups, and financial support for better customer adoption”
