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Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has announced establishing 157 new nursing colleges and a new programme for research in pharmaceuticals as part of the Union Budget 2023. The budget also prioritises medical education and research and aims to eliminate sickle cell anaemia.
“A new programme for research in pharmaceuticals will be formulated and the industry will be encouraged to invest in research,” said the finance minister further adding that facilities in select Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) labs will be made available for research by public and private medical faculties.
Sharing his views, Nikkhil K Masurkar CEO Entod Pharmaceuticals said, “New programme to promote R&D in pharma to be taken up through the center of excellence is a welcome move by the government in this year's budget. It is clear that the government is focusing on enhancing the healthcare infrastructure of the country through these efforts. The establishment of three centres of excellence for artificial intelligence to enable 'Make AI for India' and 'Make AI work for India' is another significant step by the government to enhance India's digital prowess. However, we are a bit disappointed by no announcement on any sort of GST changes and simplified regulations. Also, we were expecting that the government would allocate separate funds for R&D, formulation and APIs. So, I hope these factors will be taken into consideration in the coming years.
In the last Budget, the government allocated around Rs. 86,200 crore to the Union health ministry, a 16.5 per cent increase over the previous year.
Dr Ishwar Gilada, president, AIDS Society of India, said the Modi government should increase the budgetary allocation for the healthcare sector to 4 per cent of GDP.
While sharing his perspective on healthcare related proposals, Ashwin Sapra, partner & head-healthcare, Cyril Amarchand Mangaldas said, '"Support to R&D in the pharma sector is a welcome decision. It will help India become a leader in pharma innovation on the global stage."
A National Digital Library for children and adolescents will be set up for facilitating the availability of quality books across geographies, languages, genres and levels and device-agnostic accessibility.
Sharing her views on the budget, Charu Sehgal, partner, Lifesciences & Healthcare Leader, Deloitte India, “The announcement of providing investment and setting up centres of excellence to promote research and development in pharma is much needed and will help India move up the value chain in the life sciences sector. The focus on providing skilled manpower availability for high end research and manufacturing in the medical technology sector will help India become more self-reliant and reduce the current high dependence on imports.”
Echoing similar views, Pritika Singh, CEO of Prayag Hospitals Group says "We welcome FM Nirmala Sitharaman's announcement regarding establishing 157 new nursing colleges in core locations. In addition, the proposal for a multidisciplinary course for medical devices for skilled manpower is also praiseworthy. The dedicated multidisciplinary course for medical devices will be supported in existing institutions to ensure the availability of skilled manpower for futuristic medical technologies and high-end manufacturing and research."
In the last Budget 2022 -23,the Union finance minister has announced the launch of a national tele-mental health programme to provide 24x7 free counselling and care to people.
“The pandemic has accentuated mental health problems in people of all ages. To better the access to quality mental health counselling and care services, a National Tele Mental Health Programme will be launched,” said the finance minister while presenting the Union Budget 2022-23.
The initiative will include a network of 23 tele-mental health centres of excellence, with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) as its nodal centre and International Institute of Information Technology-Bangalore (IIITB) providing technological support.
Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman today presented the last full-fledged Union Budget of the Modi government before the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The Budget Session of Parliament began on January 31 and the first part will conclude on 13 February. The Parliament will re-convene on 12 March for the second part of the Budget Session that will conclude on 6 April.
Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman started her Budget speech at 11 am, the last full Budget of the Modi government in its second term and concluded the speech at 12:25 pm. Like the previous two Union Budgets, Union Budget 2023-24 has been delivered in paperless form.
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