Commenting on the Union Budget 2011-12, Dr. Prathap C Reddy, Chairman, Apollo Hospitals Group said, “Yet again, initiatives to reform the healthcare agenda have gone unanswered in the Union Budget.  Though the budget had a significant allocation for infrastructure, not finding healthcare on the agenda of the Finance Minister takes another year away in bridging the affordability and accessibility gap in our country. Across the world, investments in healthcare have triggered a multiplier effect on the GDP growth and quite naturally, also for the welfare of its citizens.”

He added, “The healthcare underserved population in India is almost the size of a continent. Till date more than 46% of our population travels over 100-km from towns and villages to access proper medical care. Incentivizing and thereby increasing rural healthcare infrastructure through channelized investments would help in improving our health indicators and take us closer to the MDG of healthcare for all. Personally, I was hopeful that the Union Budget would accord the ‘National Priority Sector’ status to Healthcare, which would have been the perfect motivator to attract funding, create gainful employment for millions and act like an energy enzyme for the GDP. I would urge our leaders to explore the potential of stimulating healthcare to meet the infrastructure gap, provide gainful employment and build a healthier GDP.

Speaking about the chronic disease burden, he said, “With a median age of 25.1 years, India’s population profile has the intrinsic potential to make these demographics our nation’s advantage. Yet to the contrary, the mounting burden of non-communicable chronic diseases like diabetes, hypertension and heart disease could swiftly wipe away this advantage. The Union Budget has levied service tax on hospital and diagnostic service providers and with this the end user, the patients will end up paying much more than earlier. This is detrimental to the concept of preventive healthcare and early diagnosis which is pivotal to address the mounting burden of CNCDs. The World Health Organization’s Department of Chronic Diseases and Health Promotion has estimated that India could lose $237 billion in national income due to chronic non-communicable diseases (CNCDs) over the next 10 years. The Budget should have ideally provided a tax benefit to encourage health checkups. As the Finance Minister stated in his budget speech India stands  at a decade of unlimited possibilities. Healthcare on the national agenda would be the key to unlock our nation’s potential  for  unparalleled   growth..