On Friday, the healthcare industry expressed disappointment over the Union Budget 2019-20 saying it hardly touched upon the sector and asked the government to consider increasing public spending on healthcare.

Aster DM Healthcare Founder Chairman and Managing Director Azad Moopen said that there have been no significant announcements related to healthcare in Union Budget. As there was hope that the allocation for health sector for funding the Ayushman Bharat, it has not been allocated.

The focus of the Budget was on education and had hoped that there will be more funding for starting and upgrading medical colleges.

Max Healthcare in a statement said that the private healthcare sector had a lot of expectations from the Union Budget. But unfortunately, in Parliament, the Union finance minister in her speech hardly said anything upon this sector.

The private healthcare sector has been appealing the government to explore opportunities for collaboration and working together towards strengthening public healthcare initiatives as well as ironing out gaps in the implementation of Ayushman Bharat initiatives which was announced last year. But a very little progress has been made.

Industry body All India Medical Devices (AiMeD) expressed deep anguish over continuous neglect of the domestic medical devices manufacturers by the government. AiMeD Forum Coordinator Rajiv Nath said that it is terrible to notice that for the past 3 years, this is the first Budget with no mention on healthcare not even higher allocation for Ayushman Bharat. Despite indefinite reminders, the Union Budget 2019-20 has not paid any heed to AiMeDs suggestions on extending tax and non-tax protection to the domestic medical devices industry.

Ziqitza Healthcare Chief Financial Officer Manish Sacheti said that the government has laid a lot of importance on cleanliness and sanitation but they were hopeful to see reforms in the healthcare sector. Also, one of the points overlooked in the Union Budget 2019 is the lack of momentum for the emergency medical services sector.

P D Hinduja Hospital & MRC CEO Gautam Khanna said that although, there has been no direct mentions for the healthcare industry, the proposed Rs 100 lakh crore investments in infrastructure in the next 5 years could pave way for a boost in the healthcare section.