India Likely to Double Health Spending by Next Fiscal Year

With the aim of raising expenditure in the healthcare sector to four percent of gross domestic output in the coming four years, the government is likely to raise its health spending in the next fiscal year.

The country is likely to increase its health spending to Rs.1.2-1.3 trillion in the fiscal year starting April 1, from the current year’s projected spending of Rs.626 billion, said the officials as per Reuters report.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to unveil the new healthcare plan on February 1 when she will present budget 2020-21.

Despite making strong moves in other sectors, India stands way below BRICS peers and developed countries, with just 1.3 percent of its GDP spent on healthcare.

Though India’s poor healthcare ecosystem has always been under the radar, but during the COVID-19 times, the country rose to strengthen its position as a global healthcare hub. The country rose from struggling to set-up makeshift COVID care centres to becoming a global go-to-hub pharmaceutical centre of the world.

FM Sitharaman is likely to unveil a four-year health budget plan with the aim to move India’s healthcare spend to four percent of GDP. This will be done through a dedicated health fund, the officials said.

The government could also increase the health tax from the current one percent of income and corporate tax to fund the new program, one of the above officials said.

Currently it raises about 150-160 billion rupees annually from the health tax.