A big Thumps Up To 'Modicare' 

The Budget 2018 has received rave reviews from the healthcare industry experts. They believe that it will not only give a boost to the healthcare industry , but also  help provide quality healthcare to millions of  poor Indians. The National Healthcare Protection Scheme (NHPS), many believe, is the world’s largest health insurance  scheme—which the finance minister has called ‘Modicare.’ Here is who said what: 

Dr Prathap Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals  

My heartiest congratulations to the government for investing in creating a swasth bharat by launching the Ayushman Bharat programme. Such ambitious out- of- the- box thinking was a need of the hour and the government has not disappointed. The initiative to cover 10 crore families with 5 lakh per family/per year with insurance cover for secondary and tertiary healthcare will be a gamechanger.

Antony Jacob, CEO, Apollo Munich Health Insurance
 
The world's largest government's funded healthcare program - National Healthcare Protection Scheme (NHPS)-- announced by our the government, with approximately 500 million beneficiaries is a welcome move.  It will not only help millions of poor Indians get quality healthcare, but will also create several lakh new jobs in the country as new healthcare facilities will come up in smaller districts and villages. 

Mr. Pavan Choudary, Chairman & DG, MTaI

The custom duty on medical devices have been increased. It is surprising that on one hand, the government is giving healthcare relief to the common man,  on the other it is reducing the extent of this relief by increasing custom duties in a category where 70% of the products are still imported.   
The government has reiterated its commitment to ‘Universal Healthcare’ and has announced flagship schemes to provide better healthcare to people at bottom of the pyramid – National Health Policy and Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana. These schemes will expand the reach of basic healthcare facilities in the country. While access to basic healthcare is an important determinant of Universal Healthcare, another critical factor is quality of healthcare. The latter requires access to advance healthcare technology for best health management of patients. The government should have looked at incentivising import of advance medical devices into the country by bringing down the customs duty.

There is also a need to undo the un-nuanced price control imposed by NPPA as the move is leading to unintended consequences on the healthcare ecosystem without any significant reduction in the cost for patient. The current price control regime has also lead to a drastic fall in foreign direct investment in healthcare sector from $417 million in April-September 2017 against $173 million in the same period in 2016, a reduction of 59%.

Under the current ecosystem where more than 70% of medical devices have to be imported from abroad, a balance approach to reduce cost to patient is trade margin rationalization for distributors, gradation in pricing thereby allowing a higher price bracket for superior medical devices, and lower customs duty. These measures will reduce the cost to patient without dis-incentivizing technical innovation by medical device manufacturers

Debayan Ghosh, Founder & President of Epygen Biotech Pvt Ltd

We are excited that in the budget,  1200 cr  has been allocated for healthcare, and 1.5 lakh new healthcare centers are going to be opened. India has the highest number of breast cancer and head and neck (oral) cancer patients in the world, so it is necessary these centers be equipped with primary scanning and treatment facilities. Early detection and treatment would also reduce healthcare cost burden on the Indian exchequer by several thousand crores in terms of disability adjusted life years (DALY)".

The biotech industry’s  expectations for dedicated research funds in the area of biosimilars development and regulatory ecosystem have not been met. India  definitely requires financial focus in this area.

Ravi Virmani, CEO & Founder, Credihealth

The Union Budget 2018 has taken a step towards making healthcare more accessible with its flagship National Health Protection Scheme, an initiative which provides upto Rs 5 lakh per family per year, for hospitalization. However, the devil is in the detail as the million dollar question is - will these benefits actually reach the intended people? On the business front, unfortunately, there has been no special mention of health-tech startups. The private healthcare sector should have been provided subsidy and exemption from GST to facilitate the greater spread of business and enable government's push to make healthcare accessible to all. 

Mr. Sanjay Bhutani, Managing Director, Bausch and Lomb, India
 
The Budget 2018 has been presented in the backdrop of economic growth expectations of 8% in near future and a target to reduce fiscal deficit. The budget has done well to focus the government’s priority on two important sectors: agriculture and health. The proposal to provide insurance cover of Rs.5 lakhs to about 100m families and establishing 24 new medical colleges is a step in the right direction; it will help provide quality healthcare services to economically weaker sections of society.
 
Dr Minnie Bodhanwala, CEO, Wadia Hospital

The Budget 2018 is ground breaking and will give a boost to the healthcare industry. The Government has finally focused on essential healthcare areas. The Flagship National Healthcare Protection Scheme will benefit approximately 34 crore people and also reduce the out of pocket expenses for the beneficiaries.