As Finance Minister P Chidambaram chose to present a report card of the ruling coalition ahead of the general elections in his interim budget for 2014-15 on Monday, pharmaceutical or allied sectors drew a blank with no clear takeaways, while health got comparatively a better attention from the government.
The only consolation in the interim budget for the health sector was the announcement for the cord blood blanks. “Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has requested that services provided by cord blood banks are also healthcare services and should be exempt from service tax. I propose to accept the request,” he said.
The other indirect benefit that may become handy for the pharma-related research in future could be the proposal for a Research Funding Organisation to fund research projects selected through a competitive process. “Contribution to that organisation will be eligible for tax benefits. The required legislative changes can be introduced at the time of regular Budget,” the Minister said in his speech.
While listing out the achievements and initiatives of the government in the social sector, the budget said that “Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has delivered new technologies to the people: the JE vaccine, a diagnostic test for Thalassaemia, and a Magnivisualizer for detection of cervical cancer.”
In his budget speech, the Finance Minister said that a total of Rs. 33,725 crore has been allocated for the Health Ministry for the next fiscal, which is less than last year’s allocation of Rs. 37,330 crore. However, according to the detailed budget notes released by the government, the total allocation stands at Rs. 38737.82 crore for the Ministry, thus causing confusion in the industry.
The allocation for the Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) is Rs. 247.87 crore, against the budget estimate of Rs. 228.33 crore last year. The revised allocation however stood just Rs. 115.33 crore during the last fiscal year. The allocation for the department during 2012-13 was a mere Rs. 51.22 crore.
The allocation for the Department of Health for 2014-15 will be Rs. 34663 crore, making a big increase over the last year’s allocation of Rs. 29165 crore. The revised allocation was Rs. 27531 crore last year, according to the statement on expenditure.
In the case of the Department of AIDS Control, the allocation for the next fiscal stood the same at Rs. 1785 crore as in the last year. The revised estimate last year was Rs 1500 crore. The Government has recently launched the fourth phase of the National AIDS Control Programme.
There is a considerable increase in the allocation of the Department of Health Research this year at Rs. 1017.67 crore, against Rs. 726 crore of the last year. The Department of Ayush also got a hike in the allocation for the next fiscal. The interim budget allocated Rs. 1272.15 crore this time, against Rs. 1069 crore last year.