Sunil Khurana

CEO & MD, BPL Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

The recent budget overall was a very coordinated effort by the Government for economic growth of India. It makes me proud of how far along India has progressed in the health care segment, and the budget 2022 proves just that, with the primary focus of the budget speech being on digitization of the health care sector and addressing issues arising due to poor mental health of our citizens, right from senior citizens to young teens – which is a much-appreciated step by the government.coming to the Medtech sector, sadly the budget announcement did not cover some critical pain areas which our industry is presently facing; an increase in the health care expenditure in terms of % of GDP being one of them and there was no mention.

In addition, the budget speech did not cover a well-crafted strategy to promote domestic manufacturing of critical live-saving medical equipment & devices as well as export promotion. Also, an expected raise of import duty on medical device categories which are already being made in the country to accelerate the “Make in India” drive of GOI – a step towards Atmanirbhar Bharat.

It was welcome assurances that there will be government support towards R&D for the sunrise industry beyond the academia and policies support to promote “Make in India” initiative.

Since the healthcare industry as a whole is fiercely fighting against the pandemic at the forefront, it would’ve been encouraging if the budget enhanced allocations in certain key areas as well.presented Budget’22 has failed to keep up with the assurances those were outlined in last year’s budget to bring healthcare to the next level.