In the life cycle of evolution and all of history, there are moments of transformation. India has seen a decade of transformation, from being under-developed to developing to now becoming the fastest growing economy in the world. India is an economic bright spot, growing consistently at 7%, while other world economies are growing at 2.5%.
This dramatic acceleration of pace has translated to a meaningful present and a promising future. India’s space programme has won the admiration of the world. The country has also balanced the fine line between renewable and non-renewable energy more skilfully than any other nation, and is ahead in terms of targets.
It is this buoyancy of metrics and of spirit that was evident in the Interim Budget as well. The Budget reflected the aspirations of a new India by laying out the immense opportunity ahead of us.
Preventive health checks are needed
No country can afford it if its citizens fall ill. That is why healthy living and preventive health are very important. The initiative in the Interim Budget to promote the Human Papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination among young girls, to prevent cervical cancer, is an excellent step — something that we have sand-boxed at Aragonda in Andhra Pradesh — my father’s village. We can take similar steps for several types of cancers and all non-communicable diseases, and significantly reduce India’s disease burden. We urge the government to consider incentivising individuals to undertake preventive health checks.
India has made remarkable strides in health indicators over the last four decades, with the drop in infant mortality and maternal mortality. Maternal and child health care receives a comprehensive focus in the Budget, and rightfully so. If mother and child are well, women’s participation in the workforce will increase even more than it has.
Life expectancy has increased from 53 years to 70 years in the last four decades. This has been achieved with less than 2% budgetary allocation for health over the years — if this can be increased to 5%, remarkable strides can be made in achieving better population health outcomes.
The foundation for an innovation revolution
In highlighting ‘innovation’ as a key pillar of development in today’s era, the government has decided to set aside a corpus of ₹1 lakh crore with 50-year interest free loans to provide long-term financing and refinancing to the private sector to invest in research and technology. Integration of technology has the potential to create a significant impact at scale across various domains. In health care, deeper tech collaborations will help us touch more lives and boost access to quality care, overcoming limitations such as the skewed doctor-patient ratio and even reducing health-care costs significantly.
Medical value travel
While the Interim Budget touched upon the impact of tourism flowing from religious and iconic places and has made provision for States to promote this in a big way, there is another facet of tourism that is steadily attracting more tourists and becoming a tangible reason to travel, namely health care or ‘medical value travel’. We have seen the landscape being transformed in the past decade with ‘Heal in India’ touching new heights. India’s superior talent and global standards of clinical outcomes have made India a lucrative health-care destination for the world.
Further, enhancing connectivity through new corridors with the railways along with more airports and air routes has the potential to help Indians in getting much easier access to quality health care.
Perhaps even more important than what the Budget said, were the hidden figures — private expenditure and its rise, an increase in consumption, and the underlying core theme that the private sector has risen beyond all expectations to play a meaningful role in not just the economy but in how we will live our lives. And if all of us continue to work together, India will truly be limitless.
Suneeta Reddy is the Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals Group
