Budget lacks focus on mental health, rising cost of medical devices: Experts

The Interim Budget presented on Thursday by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman lacks focus on mental health rising cost of medical devices said expertsThe experts hailed the governmentrsquos proposal to encourage vaccination for girls in the age group of 9 to 14 years for prevention of cervical cancer and lauded the plan to make one comprehensive programme for various schemes for maternal child careldquoWe welcome the announcements made by the government towards the health sector including the need for strengthening the primary healthcare facilities But as a mental health expert we are disappointed that nothing much has been announced for strengthening mental healthrdquo said Dr Jyoti Kapoor founder and director Manasthali WellnessldquoWe had expected that mental illness would be included in the Ayushman Bharat scheme to increase accessibility to treatment for financially disadvantaged populations We also wished that insurance policies and schemes cover mental illnesses to improve affordabilityrdquo she added Experts noted that the need to address mental health is urgent as approximately 150 million Indians require mental health care services and there is a stark shortage of professionals only 03 psychiatrists 007 psychologists and 007 social workers per 100000 peopleldquoWhile the interim budget lacked specific policies or initiatives for the mental health sector we remain optimistic that postelection the full budget will address this critical areardquo said Dr Neerja Agarwal psychologist and cofounder Emoneeds Mental amp Health Wellness The Budget also stressed on upgradation of anganwadi centres under saksham anganwadi and Poshan 20 for improved nutrition delivery early childhood care and developmentldquoWhile the governments laudable efforts such as cervical cancer vaccination and maternal healthcare schemes tackle vital health concerns there remains room for improvement Greater emphasis on budgetary allocations for healthcare infrastructure telemedicine expansion medical research funding could have significantly enhanced accessibility and healthcare delivery across the nationrdquo said Lovekesh Phasu Group COO Sakra World Hospital BengaluruThe experts said that the budget also failed to focus on the rising cost of medical devices ldquoThe budget has fallen short of expectations for addressing the rising import graph of medical devices and soaring import bills worth over Rs 63200 crore 8 billionrdquo said Rajiv Nath forum coordinator Association of Indian Medical Device Industry AiMeDldquoWe do hope to see in the fine print action on the assurances from various government departments to implement the National Medical Devices Policy 2023 and make it attractive and profitable to make in India rather than import into Indiardquo Nath saidAs per GTRI report of August 2023 the Indian medical devices industry can expand from 12 billion to 50 billion by 2030 reducing import reliance to 35 per cent and boosting exports to 18 billionNath noted that supporting policies are needed so that the industry can make quality healthcare accessible and affordable for the common masses This will also help aim to place India among the top five medical devices manufacturing hubs worldwide and help end the 8085 per cent import dependence forced upon us and an everincreasing import bill of over 63200 crorerdquo he saidPavan Choudary chairman Medical Technology Association of India MTaI hailed the governments plan to bring schemes for maternal and child care under one common He said this would help deliver optimal and comprehensive care throughout India However ldquothe customs duty has not gone down which was our expectation and remains at the same levelrdquoldquoThis will take FDI in MedTech to a neverbefore high this financial year However if the government had reduced the customs duties the FDI in MedTech could have taken a meteoric trajectoryrdquo Choudary saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever