Pharma and the hospital sectors have stated that healthcare seems to be biggest beneficiary in this Union budget. Announcing  two major schemes for health, one being health and wellness centres with a Rs. 1200 crore allocation for these schemes, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the 1.5 lakh health centres will bring healthcare to people’s homes for non communicable disease and women/child health.

Stating that only Swasth Bharat can be a Samriddha Bharat,  FM said that The National Health Policy, 2017 has envisioned Health and Wellness Centres as the foundation of India’s health system. These centres will provide comprehensive health care, and  provide free essential drugs and diagnostic services.

We will launch a flagship National Health Protection Scheme to cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families which is approximately 50 crore beneficiaries providing coverage upto 5 lakh rupees per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalization. This will be the world’s largest government funded health care programme. Adequate funds will be provided for smooth implementation of this programme, stated the FM.
 
From a pharma industry perspective, the government did not announce anything specific, except that MSMEs are a major engine of growth and employment in the country. Massive formalization is taking place after demonetization and introduction of GST.  This is generating enormous financial information database which  will be used for improving financing of MSMEs’ capital requirement, including working capital.

Sunil Attavar, president, Karnataka Drugs and Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association said that the biggest take away from the budget is the proposal to cover 10 crore families under a universal insurance scheme . This is a massive proposal that will cover close to 33% of the population . It will give the health care a great boost.

The reduction in income tax for companies having a turnover up to Rs.250 crore  is a big positive for the SME sector, he added.

Sujay Shetty, Partner & Leader – Life Sciences, PwC India on the healthcare and pharma sector, said that the move towards the massive health care coverage proposed in the National Healthcare Programme as a big boost to the pharma industry.

Chipping in on similar lines was Suneeta Reddy, MD, Apollo Hospitals, said that the  Budget 2018 has taken a huge step in making healthcare affordable and accessible by launching the world’s largest healthcare scheme. It is indeed heartening that 40% of India’s population will be covered underinsurance scheme. The payor problem demanded urgent attention and the government has paid heed. If the Flagship National Health Protection Scheme is properly implemented and monitored we would have taken an important step in creating a Swasth Bharat. Effectively this initiative which amounts to USD 800 billion dollars tops even the US’ Medicaid programme which amounts to USD 550 billion.

According to Ameera Shah, Promoter and Managing Director, Metropolis Healthcare, "Overall, this has been a pro-people and a pro-poor budget. For the first time, Universal Health Care has got the impetus it needs. We truly hope that going forward, the government also has plans for utilisation management, financial monitoring, audit mechanisms and accountability".