New Delhi|Ekta
Today Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented budget of the Modi’s 3.0 government, what is poured in the bucket of health sector and how leaders of healthcare domain takes this budget, Healthlive taking this opportunity to share Union budget reaction statements from them here:
Dr Shyam Aggarwal,Chairman , Medical Oncology, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital: All imported life saving drugs are costly and customs duty exemption is welcome step.Cancer drugs are very expensive and life saving. Patients require long term treatment. All steps to bring the cost down are more than welcome. Deruxtecan drug is breast cancer drug and can be used in all cancers with Her2 positive gene, Osimertinib Is lung cancer drug for egfr mutation and Durvalumab Is drug for lung and biliary tract cancers. All these cancers are quite common in India and detected in late stages in our Country.”
Dr. Harsh Mahajan ,Founder & Chairman, Mahajan Imaging &Labs and Chairman FICCI Health Services Committee: Exemption of three life saving medicines for cancer treatment is a welcome step. We will need to study the fine print to know what these drugs are. Exemption of customs duty on components of X-ray tubes and digital detectors, will lead to spurring of indigenous manufacturing of digital X-ray machines in India. Allocation of funds for innovation and skilling will also help those who are working in the healthcare sector.
Dr. Ashutosh Raghuvanshi, MD & CEO, Fortis Healthcare Limited: We appreciate the government’s decision to exempt three cancer drugs from customs duty in the FY 2024-25 budget. Cancer treatment often involves a significant financial burden for patients and their families. By exempting these drugs from customs duty, the government has taken a concrete step towards alleviating this burden, making essential medications more affordable for those in need across the country. This decision also underscores the government’s commitment to addressing the growing cancer burden in India.
Additionally, proposing changes in the BCD (Basic Customs Duty) for X-ray tubes and flat panel detectors under the phased manufacturing programme will significantly benefit domestic OEM manufacturers by reducing costs, encouraging local sourcing, and enhancing competitiveness. This alignment will foster local manufacturing, drive technological investment, and support the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ initiative, ultimately contributing to economic growth and job creation.
However, some longstanding healthcare sector demands remain unaddressed in the current budget. These include increasing the GDP spend on healthcare to 2.5%, prioritizing healthcare as a national issue, promoting medical value travel in India, addressing indirect taxation and unused MAT credits, and rationalizing GST with a uniform rate and full input tax credit eligibility. We urge these issues be considered in future budgets to build a healthier, stronger India.
Dr. Vaibhav Kapoor, Co-founder, Pristyn Care:The Union Budget for 2024-25 is a positive growth step and we welcome it wholeheartedly. We are glad to see that efforts have been made to back education and skills development such as by revising the Model Skill Loan Scheme enabling 25,000 students per annum and giving E-vouchers for loans up to Rs 10 lakh to one lakh students yearly. The new package announced today includes five schemes with a budget of Rs 2 lakh crore aimed at generating employment opportunities and enhancing skill levels of 4.1 crores youth over the next five years. In addition, this year’s allotment of Rs 1.48 lakh crore towards education, employment and skilling demonstrates strong commitment in these areas. These will help young people to have better education, improve the education system through investing heavily in it and create many job opportunities. This whole approach will make our future brighter, healthier and more prosperous for everybody.
