A key role, and the first step to the change will stem from an increase in the government spend on the healthcare industry. The Centre's current expenditure on healthcare is estimated at 1.2% of the GDP and is envisioned to touch 2.5% by 2025. This coupled with strong investments into the ecosystem can really help buoy the economy. Investment in primary health care in India by the government is critical because this will result in much needed support in terms of manpower, training, and accountability of outcomes. Incentivising investment in the private healthcare sector can also fast-track our healthcare system to become more efficient and technologically inclined. According to the budget expectations for 2022 by Deloitte, the top three predictions for the healthcare sector include ‘tax holidays and funding for hospitals and skill development, GST reforms that bring more life-saving drugs at the lowest rate of GST amongst other benefits and creating the ecosystem for innovation and research’.
Investment in R&D including genetic and genome research, vaccine development, and epidemiology is an essential cornerstone of a well-rounded healthcare architecture. This will not only help us control communicable diseases, but also understand them and their complexities thoroughly. Having access to in-depth research can also help us map the trajectory and tell-tale signs of such threats way before the public is majorly exposed and affected by them.
While the focus remains largely on equipping the country into preparedness, the importance of allocating more money to preventive healthcare cannot come second. In the last two years, while hospitals were full of patients suffering from COVID-19, it was the patients with non-communicable diseases like heart issues, blood pressure, diabetes, and other comorbidities that COVID-19 disproportionately affected. A stronger foundation and better infrastructure for preventive healthcare needs to go hand in hand with the readiness to tackle and maintain communicable outbreaks.
Benefits of Public Private Partnerships (PPP)
The need of the hour is to drive public-private partnerships rigorously, with a focus on the quality of the healthcare that is being provided to the public. Currently, PPP is driven on a transactional basis and without any minimum standards. This usually means that most PPP end up providing poor quality services and work with a lot of shortcuts. The one to suffer the most in this situation is the patient itself.
PPPs are the future of a sustainable healthcare system. It brings the strongest capabilities of both the sectors together - the regulation and the subsidies the public sector can provide along with the expertise and financial means of the private sector. This can also create a runway for money to be allocated wisely and clear structures of accountability at every step of the way
PPPs are the future of a sustainable healthcare system. It brings the strongest capabilities of both the sectors together - the regulation and the subsidies the public sector can provide along with the expertise and financial means of the private sector. This can also create a runway for money to be allocated wisely and clear structures of accountability at every step of the way.
Conclusion
While we’re still battling the mutations of COVID-19, the upcoming budget can be conducive to shaping and covering various aspects of the healthcare sector comprehensively. The necessity is of a rock-solid healthcare infrastructure built with fail-safes. We are looking at and aiming for a future where healthcare is not segregated and distinguished as public or private but is rather known as just that - healthcare.
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