There is a spotlight on healthcare as a contributor to the economy as this budget does not view healthcare as only a cost element alone with budgetary allocation linked to it. This is an important shift, says Suneeta Reddy, managing director, Apollo Hospitals.
In an apparent delight at the budget speaking to the external world and showcasing the Indian healthcare edge, Reddy referred to finance minister’s focus on medical value travel, the portability of insurance, which will allow international patients to come to India, the move to create five medical hubs. Plus, now seeking to leverage the next generation manufacturing in pharmaceuticals, biosimilars as well as the measures on clinical trial centres. All of these, to Reddy, clearly add up to healthcare as a real contributor to the economy and in sync with the mission to see 10 per cent of global services coming from India where healthcare could be a huge contributor along with IT.
Healthcare moves beyond welfare lens
Suneeta Reddy, who is often referred to by her father Dr Prathap C Reddy as the Apollo Hospitals group’s Lakshmi, the Hindu Goddess of wealth, for her innate skills at handling finances, we asked her on what her view was on how the sums were adding up in the budget.
On what Reddy saw as the message on fiscal consolidation? For instance, is the decline in fiscal deficit from 4.4 per cent of GDP to 4.3 per cent any reflection of a strong consolidation? If not, then as a leading economist, who does not wish to be named, asked us, what is the message government wants to give on the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Act, 2003 which mandates the government to limit fiscal deficit to 3 per cent of GDP? Or even the amendment to the FRBM Act following the recommendations of the N K Singh committee, which also sought a reduction in the debt-GDP ratio but much sharper one. She called the 1 per cent reduction is the sensible way to operate in the current situation with limits to the ability to withdraw what is currently being supported and put any system on a shock.
The fact that the lifespan has increased in India and so has the quality of life. This on top of maternal mortality coming down by a factor of four, were to Reddy, indicators of India moving in the right direction.
Budget bets on medical travel, pharma scale-up
Also, she felt there was no gain in insistence on many guardrails in a constantly changing world and one that is in a dynamic environment led by geo-political developments, exchange range changes, availability of capital and on options relating to opportunities for growth. Also, change is a constant today with each quarter unfolding new developments that would entail matching responses with some going way beyond the budget. Much of these could occur during the course of the year making dependence on the budget alone a thing of the past. The message, at the moment, Reddy saw emanating from the budget was around more capital formation and higher investment.
The finance minister in her budget speech spoke of promoting India as a hub for medical tourism services and for this proposed the launch a scheme to support states in establishing five regional medical hubs, in partnership with the private sector; these hubs, the finance minister said, would serve as integrated healthcare complexes that combine medical, educational and research facilities. They will have AYUSH centres, medical value tourism facilitation centres and infrastructure for diagnostics, post-care and rehabilitation. These Hubs would provide diverse job opportunities for health professionals including doctors and AHPs (Allied Health Professionals).