Come Feb 1st and the entire country will be looking out for the Finance Minister’s budget 2020-21. A new healthcare plan with a higher budget is expected to be presented, though not much is known about it yet.
India’s healthcare infrastructure has always been in shambles and the coronavirus pandemic, that continues to cripple even the best healthcare systems of the world, brought to light its pity state. In this budget, India is expected to double its healthcare expenditure from a mere 1.3% of GDP to 4%. The goal is to help fix the country’s health systems to deal with pandemics like the ongoing one.
It is expected that a four-year health budget plan will be devised with a dedicated health fund. To do so, a slight increase in the health tax is expected as well.
India’s health system need not just funds but also elaborate planning and execution of these plans. Whether increasing the health tax and creating health fund is going to be sufficient to build even the foundation level of the country’s health system is yet to be seen.
