Every year during the budget, there are expectations of reforms in the healthcare sector. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has made several new announcements which can benefit the medical field in the future.
Health Sector Budget 2025: The healthcare sector had high expectations from this year's budget, it talks about increasing government spending in the field, and tax reform will benefit many important things, as well as increasing facilities for the people. Apart from this, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has also paid special attention to meeting the need for medical education. Let us know what gifts the health sector has received.
What did the healthcare sector get in the budget?
1. Day Care Cancer Center
The government has announced that it will open day care cancer centers in all the districts of the country in the coming 3 years. A target has been set to open 200 such centers in the financial year 2025-26. This can benefit a lot of poor and middle income people, who cannot afford expensive cancer treatment.
2. Many medicines will become cheaper
36 life saving drugs and medicines for cancer will be added to the list of medicines fully exempted from basic customs duty. 37 more medicines and 13 new patient assistant programmes will be fully exempted from basic customs duty (where they are supplied free of cost to patients). However, 6 life saving drugs are to be added to the list with concessional customs duty of 5%.
The government reduced GST rates and exempted three anti-cancer drugs – Trastuzumab, Osimertinib and Durvalumab – from customs duty.
According to a Lancet study, India is the second largest contributor to the disease burden in Asia with around 1.2 million new cases of cancer and 9.3 million deaths in 2019. According to the report, this figure increased to 1.39 million in 2020 and then to 1.42 million and 1.46 million in 2021 and 2022 respectively.
3. Medical college seats will increase
Focusing on medical education, the government has announced that 10 thousand new seats will be added in medical colleges every year. Apart from this, 75 thousand more seats will be added in the next 5 years. Students preparing for medical will get a lot of benefit from this.
4. Broadband in Healthcare Centres
The Finance Minister said that all government secondary schools and primary healthcare centres will be provided broadband connectivity.
5. Medical tourism will be promoted
In the last few decades, the culture of medical tourism has grown a lot in India. Since medical expenses in India are much cheaper than in many countries, many people from abroad come here for treatment. This gives a boost to the country's economy. The government is trying to promote medical tourism further.
6. Medical tools will become cheaper
The government has announced to reduce the prices of many medical tools, which will reduce the cost of treatment, and patients will get direct benefit from it.
