Budget 2024: What Pharma, Healthcare Industry Expect from Interim Budget

As February 1, the day Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presents Financial plan 2024, moves close, drug and medical care areas drill down their assumptions. Advancement in medical care and pharma, changes in health care coverage, lifting medical services foundation in provincial India, unwinding of import limitations, and spotlight on innovative work are a portion of the requests of the areas.

Association of Health Providers (AHPI) founder director Dr Girdhar Gyani said that it is imperative to increase the number of beds in order to reach the World Health Organisation mark of 3.5 beds per 1,000 population. Gyani called for a bigger allocation to meet this need, as per businesstoday.

He furthermore stated: “Without having basic health infrastructure, we will not be able to have effective universal health coverage. Rationalizing of reimbursement tariffs under PRADHAN MANTRI JAN AYOG YOJANA needs priority attention to bring tertiary care hospitals under the scheme.”

In addition, Gyani discussed the development of allied health industries like pharmaceuticals and medical devices. Dr. Gyani stated that bringing in additional technology partners to invest in the sector through joint ventures and domestic research for new technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), 3D printing, digital and smart hospitals, and devices for remote sensing and monitoring are urgently required.

Deepak Pahwa, director of Delair, stated that the government should allocate more than 2.5% of pharmaceutical investment to increasing pharmaceutical product manufacturing capacity in order to maintain the nation's global pharmaceutical dominance. “The budget should be strategically allotted to promote innovation and tailoring manufacturing practices to meet the rising demand projected in the market while being at par with international standards,” said Pahwa with equal emphasis on R&D.