Context:
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted investment in people, healthcare, and medical innovation as key drivers of national development.
Key Announcements
Nutritional Support under Poshan 2.0 & Saksham Anganwadi
- Enhanced cost norms for nutritional support.
- Beneficiaries:
- 8 crore children.
- 1 crore pregnant women and lactating mothers.
- 20 lakh adolescent girls in aspirational districts & the Northeast.
Expansion of Healthcare Infrastructure
- Day Care Cancer Centres:
- To be set up in all district hospitals over the next three years.
- 200 centres to be established in 2025-26.
- Expansion of Medical College & Hospital:
- 10,000 new seats in medical colleges in the next year.
- Target of 75,000 seats in five years.
Medical Tourism & ‘Heal in India’ Initiative
- Private sector partnership for capacity building.
- Simplified visa norms to attract international patients.
Relief on Import of Life-Saving Drugs & Medicines
- BCD exemptions
- 36 new life-saving drugs fully exempted.
- 6 additional medicines to get concessional 5% duty.
- Includes drugs for cancer, rare diseases, and severe chronic conditions.
- Exemption for Patient Assistance Programmes
- 37 additional medicines added.
- 13 new assistance programmes included.
Conclusion
The budget speaks of integral investment in human resources with:
- Infrastructural investment in health with new cancer care centers and additional medical seats
- Improving nutritional interventions for children, women, and adolescents
- Boosting medical tourism, making India the global health tourism destination
- Lower treatment costs with exempted duties on essential medicines.
