Future of Healthcare in India: Impacts on job creation, key improvements, tax relief and more

The recent financial plan presents the government’s plan to tackle prevailing hurdles and forthcoming targets using employment opportunities, skill improvement initiatives and tax alleviation schemes for middle-income earners. Among them, support for new businesses, small and medium enterprises (SMEs), and infrastructure development are crucial measures. As part of strides made in improving the healthcare system, some mainstay areas are aimed at removing custom duties on anticancer drugs, enhancing medical colleges’ enrolment capacity and upscaling immunisation exercises to achieve healthier results.

Job Creation and Skilling Initiatives
A critical emphasis of this budget is upon job creation. The infusion of investments into sectors with high employment potential has been targeted as a specific way to drive down unemployment while simultaneously stimulating the economy.

Supporting start-ups and SMEs, which lead to employment generation, sufficing substantial financial allocations targeted at basic infrastructure projects that will create jobs in various areas, including projects like construction or engineering, are considered part of this government scheme down the road.

Skill development is emphasised in the budget as it is crucial during this time of modernisation and automation. Proposed strategies include setting up new training centers and encouraging industry partnerships that will help the workforce tackle future problems. The aim of these strategies is to bridge the skills gap by providing people with means to switch jobs or industries.

Tax Relief for the Salaried Middle Class
There’s a pass for the paying worker class, which is wealth’s spine in this funding plan, with tax relief regarding personal income and enhancement of basic exemptions. Increased personal income will positively affect consumer demand henceforth, promoting economic growth. Not only does such tax alleviation facilitate its beneficiaries’ lives financially, but it also recognises that this class has played an important role in developing the country’s economy.

Healthcare Sector Improvements
Even if this year’s budget never primarily pivoted around the healthcare sector, it did get some attention through different areas of importance. Some key announcements included customs duty exemptions imposed on certain anticancer medications and medical devices such as x-ray equipment. By doing so, it is expected that the cost of cancer treatment will be reduced so that more patients can afford them without straining their families financially.

Expanding medical colleges using existing hospital structures is another key move to increase the number of medical colleges using existing hospitals. This plan seeks to solve the long-standing problem of the country's doctor shortage. Increasing medical colleges aims to increase the doctor-patient ratio and improve healthcare delivery throughout different regions.

Implementing better immunisations is another important budget concern, which emphasises strong vaccination systems, particularly about the COVID-19 pandemic. The priority of vaccinations is to create better immunity against preventable ailments while enhancing the general health situation.

Conclusion
This year's budget is a fair move towards the enhancement of the economy, the addition of jobs and healthcare improvement. Job creation and training are critical for ensuring a sustainable economy. Tax relief for the employed will increase consumption, thereby growing the economy. There are no big reforms in the area of healthcare, but a decrease in the prices of cancer medication, more money for medics’ education as well as reinforced immunisation programs are all positive strides forward.

-Dr. H. Sudarshan Ballal, Chairman, Manipal Hospitals

• Future of Healthcare
• financial strategy
• Budget 2024