The long-term trend of low government spending on healthcare may begin a reversal in the Union budget as the nation struggles to overcome the covid-19 pandemic that has claimed over 150,000 lives and infected over 10 million. According to the officials in health ministry, the budget may focus on public private partnerships (PPPs), further tweaking viability gap funding(VGF) options to attract private sector investors in tier 2 and 3 cities and invest more in healthcare to strengthen indigenous manufacturing of medical devices, personal protective equipment (PPE), and drugs raw material.
The total budget allocated to the ministry of health and family welfare for 2019-20 was ₹61,398.12 crore against ₹52,800 crore in 2018-19. It is crucial to save the private health sector from collapse and improve government health sector infrastructure in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. This has to be supplemented with improving WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene) infrastructure and creating a robust workforce of healthcare providers to take care of the homeless and residents of unauthorized slums, said Professor Nirmal K. Ganguly, president, Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education and Research in India and former director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research. “Greater investment is also needed for preparedness against other health emergencies that may arise in the future, by strengthening diagnostic testing capacities and contact tracing mechanisms, he added.
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