To drive the growth of the healthcare industry even forward, the government has launched a number of policies and programs. With the National Health Policy, for example, it aims to, domestically, achieve the highest possible level of health and wellbeing for citizens of all ages, and internationally, develop India as a global healthcare hub. It approved the continuation of National Health Mission with a budget of US$ 4.40 billion under the Union Budget 2019-20 and has opened collaboration with the private sector to improve the ease of access to and quality of healthcare services within the country.
Launched fairly recent (on 23 September 2018, to be precise), the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), has already made considerable impact. Around 9,00,000 patients have received benefits of worth US$ 167.71 million and many more are expected to soon. Advertised as the world’s largest health insurance scheme fully financed by the government, it aims to provide comprehensive primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare services to over 10.74 crore poor and vulnerable families.
The National Nutrition Mission, aimed at reducing the level of stunting and under-nutrition, has received a budget of US$ 13.16 billion for a three-year period. The policy aims to gradually work towards the attainment of malnutrition free India by 2022 by covering 315 identified districts in the first year, 235 districts in the second year, and the remaining districts in the third.
Mission Indradhanush was launched in December 2014 with the target of ensuring full immunization coverage for at least 90% of the country by December 2018. 201 districts across 28 states in the country have been identified under the “high focus” category. These have the highest number of partially immunized and immunized children.
Further, schemes and policies such as the RashtriyaSwasthyaBima Yojana, that aims to promote and provide health insurance across the country, and the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana, that aims at increasing the quality of tertiary healthcare capacity in medical education, research, and clinical care, and many more, are supported by an increase in allocation to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in the Union Budget 2019-2020. The ministry, and the policies coordinated by it, have seen an increase by 16.28 per cent year-on-year to US$ 8.51 billion.
The healthcare delivery system in India is driven by two players – public and private – which is necessary to support such a large population. To attract, invite, and drive collaboration from the private sector, the government has launched various incentives. For example, it has increased the tax holiday under section 80-IB for private healthcare providers in non-metros for minimum of 50 bedded hospitals. Further, all healthcare education and training services are exempted from service tax; income tax has been exempted for 15 years for domestically manufactured medical technology products; and more.
India has strong bilateral relations in the healthcare sector with over 50 countries, as of August 2019. This international cooperation is aimed to encourage joint training and manpower development, exchange of experts, exchange of information and knowledge, etc. Additionally, to ease the influx of international medical tourists to the country, India has deconvoluted the visa process for over 130 countries. Highly skilled professionals, ease of travel, cheap and affordable services have given India an edge in the medical tourism sector of the healthcare industry and it is the fastest growing premium medical tourism destination in Asia, attracting patients from all over the world but in particular from its neighbours such as Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Afghanistan, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore. Since India is expected to grow by 22-25 per cent in this sector, new markets are sure to emerge, especially with the government now working in close collaboration with the private sector to drive this growth forward. For example, special tax holidays and incentives are offered to hospitals and wellness centers that deal with medical tourists.
With an increase in revenue and an expected growth to US$ 280 billion by 2020, stakeholders are looking to explore the latest trends in the healthcare industry in order to make positive impact to their businesses. The hospital industry itself, a rather small portion of the overall healthcare industry, is expected to reach US$ 132.84 billion by FY22. The government’s open collaboration with the private sector to provide cheap, affordable, safe, and effective healthcare services to its citizens and beyond has also helped drive the growth forward leading to ample investment opportunities in the sector.
No comments:
Post a Comment