Pranab Mukherjee’s budget failed to impress the medical fraternity in Bangalore.
“The budget on the whole was unimpressive and more so from the angle of the health sector,” said Dr Kumaresh Krishnamoorthy, ENT surgeon of Apollo hospital.
“At least, five years of tax holiday should have been provided to start-ups to motivate development in this sector,” he said.
“Moreover, this was the only sector able to resist recession. The government should have, hence, taken steps to boost it. It has given some boost to rural health care but that still remains unclear,” he said.
“Only three percent of the total population of India comes under health insurance. Steps should have been taken to cover many more people under this scheme,” said Dr Naresh Shetty, medical director of MS Ramaiah hospital.
“Good health is our birth right and care should be taken so that organised health care is available to more people,” he said.
“One positive step is the introduction of health insurance scheme for people living below poverty line. However,it should be properly implemented,” he said.
“If government hospitals are ensured of funds, we canutilise it for poor patients,” said GT Subhash, director of Bangalore Medical College.
“In this year’s budget, I was expecting allocation for paramedical sciences, geriatric care and National Urban Health Mission,” he said.
“The budget has focused on ‘aam admi’ while setting a new tone on policy matters. It has not focused on specific policies and sops for individual sectors,” said Shivinder Mohan Singh, managing director of Fortis Healthcare.
Comments