This year’s union budget, the second by Finance Minister ArunJaitley is a mixed bag for healthcare sector. Doubling of the deductible health insurance premium from 15000 to 30,000 is certainly a step in the right direction. This will help people seek out quality healthcare and will stimulate the sector towards fresh investments. Another favorable step was abolition of service tax on patient transport by ambulance and set up of AIIMS like institutes on different parts of the country. However, the budget falls short in making major policy initiatives for health care sector. There are no announcements for pharma sector or major stimulation initiatives to research and development in the healthcare sector. We were expecting major incentives on R&D specially under the Make in India initiative, but the budget has stopped short of it. There are no financial incentives for the healthcare sector for fresh investments in primary and tertiary healthcare delivery model as well.
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