The ministry held several rounds of discussions with different stakeholders in various sectors to seek suggestions for the budget.
New Delhi: Industry body PHDCCI on Thursday said the health budget should be increased by 30-40 per cent as there is a growing need for health facilities and infrastructure across the country. Making the suggestion for the forthcoming Union Budget, Saket Dalmia, President of PHDCCI, said the budget for health has seen a rise of about 16 per cent in absolute terms between budget estimates of 2021-22 and 2022-23.
The major focus could be on a widespread campaign for healthy living, which is the need of the hour to build up a healthy human resource for the country. "The importance of healthy living should necessarily be included in the school curriculum. Awareness programmes on diabetes and other lifestyle diseases should be organised by the local bodies, chambers and associations," he said.
On his expectations from the next budget, Ajay Poddar, Chairman and Managing Director of Syenergy Environics said rapid and accurate diagnosis is the most relevant demand and will enable a rapid return to wellness for the patient besides helping control the spread of infections towards effective health management.
"We need multi-disease diagnostics platforms, and affordable diagnostics and wellness promotion in the country," he noted. Poddar also said that the government should come out with a mechanism and policy framework to allow health insurance to cover wellness tests and Ayush treatments also. Encouragement and funding of research could bring down healthcare costs to Rs 1,000 per person per annum.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is scheduled to present the Union Budget 2023-24 on February 1. The ministry held several rounds of discussions with different stakeholders in various sectors to seek suggestions for the budget.
Siddhartha Ghosh, Director, Hyderabad Campus, NMIMS, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, said the per capita insurance expenditure on healthcare in India is the lowest in the world.
More than 75 per cent of Indians have no health insurance, and the new budget should have provision to handle this," Ghosh added. PHDCCI also said the government must also establish primary clinics at the Panchayat level and ensure their proper and regular functioning.
They should be digitally equipped for facilitating telemedicine and the data collected at the Panchayat level must also be digitised for further use for treatment at different places, Dalmia said.
CBI raids 91 places in case related to registration of foreign medical graduates
The CBI on Thursday conducted searches at around 91 locations across the country at the premises of certain Medical Councils as well as foreign medical graduates (FMGs) which led to the recovery of several incriminating documents, including fake pass certificates of the FMG examination.
New Delhi, The CBI on Thursday conducted searches at around 91 locations across the country at the premises of certain Medical Councils as well as foreign medical graduates (FMGs) which led to the recovery of several incriminating documents, including fake pass certificates of the FMG examination.
The CBI registered a case against unknown public servants of the State Medical Councils and Medical Council of India (MCI), 73 foreign medical graduates and other unknown public servants.
The allegations were about the irregularities in the registration of foreign medical graduates with Medical Councils in several states on the basis of fake certificates of qualifying foreign medical graduates examination conducted by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences (NBEMS).
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