Healthcare industry expects increasing budget allocation for National Mental Health Program in Union Budget 2022

The Healthcare industry expects increasing budget allocation for National Mental Health Program (NMHP) and trauma centers in Primary Health Centers (PHCs) and Community Health Centers (CHCs) in Union Budget 2022-23 as trauma systems result in high financial costs.

According to Dr. Prakriti Poddar, Managing Trustee, Poddar Foundation, “India’s mental healthcare system had several gaps even before the pandemic, and the situation has been exacerbated by the outbreak of COVID-19. In the last budget i.e. the Union Budget 2021-22, the budget for the NMHP remained the same as last year –  Rs 40 crore. Proposing only Rs 40 crore for NMHP will leave the country unprepared and unable to deal with the requirements of the population, especially with the increasing mental health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“It is not just about increasing budgets, unless it is accompanied by engagement with grass-root level mental healthcare. The government must set up counselling centers, drive aggressive promotional health campaigns encouraging people to consult with psychologists and psychiatrists as well as invest in community health physicians and public health professionals to strengthen mental health epidemiology and engagement in preventive care. The government also needs to set up bodies that recognise community level organisations and NGOs working in the mental health space and provide funds to them so that they can continue their work,” Dr Poddar added.

Debajit Sensharma, Group CFO, Paras Healthcare said, “The government should look at increasing the healthcare expenditure above 2.5% of GDP and extend the National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) to all migrant workers, in addition to the BPL population. The need of the hour is to improve healthcare funding with subsidized loans, incentivizing CSR investment by making it a tax-deductible expense, and allocating land for new hospitals.”

“Our country has the youngest workforce, but with dropping fertility rates and increasing mutations, there will be a huge spike in healthcare expenses over the next couple of decades. The incidence of lifestyle diseases is doubling every 10 years. Therefore, it is imperative for the government to get genome mapping done, which will assist in collecting the much-needed data to discover cures for complex conditions. In order to achieve the same, the government should promote public-private partnerships for genome mapping projects. Another important aspect for the government to consider is including all the life-saving drugs in the generic category and providing tax cuts on these drugs. However, providing adequate funding for the healthcare sector is needed at this hour, as it will have a substantial impact on the whole economy,” Debajit added.

“The healthcare sector should be the focus of this year’s budget. In the budget, more funds should be allocated to health expenditure. Incentives should be provided to the private sector so that they can establish Covid Care Centers. A Medical Innovation Fund should be set up to provide capital to companies promoting digital healthcare infrastructure. Many startups are utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to provide detailed reports to patients regarding medical conditions. India is also a popular medical tourism destination due to the availability of skilled labour. Hence, the government should ease visa restrictions and create more green corridors in order to promote medical tourism.” said Dr. Ankit Gupta, Managing Director, Park Group of Hospitals.

“In the shadow of the pandemic and the ongoing battle against the virus, the budget should focus on the following areas: first, healthcare expenditure as a proportion of GDP must be raised to at least 2.5% if not more. Second, in view of the rising frequency of infectious diseases, the government must allocate enough resources for genetic and genome research, epidemiological studies besides hiking allocations for general healthcare-related R&D. Third, the budget must also provide for increased investment into infrastructure-building in terms of more critical care and ICU facilities and diagnostic labs along with ambulatory and home care. Fourth, smaller towns and the hinterland too should get sufficient public and private health infrastructure. Accordingly, the private sector should be encouraged with easy and inexpensive loan availability, tax exemptions and other financial and policy support through this budget. Fifth, similar encouragement must also be extended to the pharma and medical device sector.  Sixth, the budget should also earmark funds for ramping up infrastructure for medical education and training with an eye on elevating the quality and quantity of our healthcare manpower,” said Praveen Sikri, CEO of Ikris Pharma Network.