- By Dr (Prof) Deepak Agrawal
Union Budget 2021-22 Expectations for Healthtech: With countries still fighting one of mankind’s biggest health crisis, gaps in the healthcare infrastructures in even some of the most developed economies has raised alarms across the world. India, which was struggling to meet the healthcare requirements due to lack of access to even basic healthcare facilities like ICUs, ventilators, and other essential medical equipment-even before the pandemic, had to struggle to stay afloat by enforcing one of the most stringent lockdowns anywhere in the world! The question is do we have to wait for a pandemic to hit us to make remarkable transformations in this field for better delivery of healthcare and then align our resources/budget in this direction?
On a positive note, this pandemic has been a wake-up call for the healthcare sector in India, where the authorities came face to face with issues plaguing the medical technology industry. The key solution to addressing this gap in accessibility and affordability of healthcare is making homegrown technology-driven innovations that facilitate production and delivery of medical devices within the country, provided the policymakers use this opportunity to align the resources/budgets to ensure accessible, equitable, and quality healthcare for the citizens of India. This lacuna needs to be addressed in the budget this year with a specific allocation of the budget for healthcare delivery, healthcare personnel, infrastructural developments, and a special focus on innovations in healthcare by supporting startups in this field. It is evident that this pandemic has fast-tracked the need and adoption of technology-driven solutions in healthcare and this trend is here to stay. Healthcare providers have embraced technology with virtual consultations, robot-assisted procedures, wearables (AI in medical equipment), and many more innovations that aid smooth delivery of healthcare.
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Last year the finance minister had allocated a paltry Rs 69,000 crore (1.29 per cent of GDP), inclusive of Rs 6,400 crore for Jan Arogya Yojana, to the healthcare budget. While this was more than what was allocated to health the year before, it remains minuscule in a country aspiring to be known as a developed country. The key solution is government-backed technology-driven innovations that facilitate the production and delivery of heath-tech within the country. The pandemic has made us realise the importance of telemedicine, remote monitoring of NCDs, indigenous medical equipment, and the need for ‘surge capacity’ in healthcare. There is an expectation that the Finance Minister will finally talk about the elephant in the room in this year’s budget with specific allocation for healthcare delivery and innovations with a long-term vision for healthcare in India.
Some key considerations for this year’s budget should be:
- Establishment of centrally funded hospital cum medical college in each of the 739 districts of India. This has the potential to radically change the healthcare landscape of India and ensure quality cost-effective healthcare to the citizens.
- Country-wide unified EMR (electronic medical records) system with disease registries and healthcare worker databases for optimised resource allocation. This needs a financial ‘Carrot & stick’ policy for nationwide implementation.
- Establishing and funding a National Healthcare Audit Authority (NHAA) which audits the functioning and quality of care of all healthcare institutions in the country using objective KPI’s with minimum quality standards set for the care given at every step, based on the healthcare facilities (primary, secondary or tertiary).
- 5-year plan in PPP funding model for developing high cost imported medical equipment like MRI machine, CT scanner, Ultrasound machines, Ventilators, Dialysis machines, etc., with a clear roadmap that within 10 years all medical equipment should be ‘made in India’ and every important healthtech should be indigenised.
- Expand the PMJAY to include all taxpayers. It is the minimum the government should do, considering that the world’s largest health scheme is funded by taxpayers’ money but excludes them.
Health is wealth. I sincerely hope that these thoughts are translated into actual policy decisions for improving the health and wealth of India.
Dr (Prof) Deepak Agrawal is a Senior Professor at the Department of Neurosurgery, Neurosciences & Gamma Knife Centre, AIIMS, New Delhi. Views expressed are the author’s own.
