Dr. Ravi Gaur

Founder, DRG Path labs

The pandemic has caused a fair amount of silent mental health issues. Thus the mental health component of the budget is definitely a welcome step. Continued focus on skill initiatives, telehealth & other digital services will provide much needed boost to the accessibility of healthcare especially in the remote geographies. The announcement of tax reduction for people with disabilities is another positive step. The government should have focused more on primary healthcare investment in preventive health care on priority. A strong push for augmenting tertiary care hospitals, upgrading the existing services and research investments were definitely expected for future readiness. The budget does not hold much to other required essential services in the healthcare sector, including the crucial medical devices and diagnostic industry, which has played a very crucial role in tackling the pandemic. We were definitely expecting a big push towards healthcare spending, at least to the promise of 3% of the GDP .Unfortunately, this still looks a bit of a distant task.