Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman, India′s finance minister, presented the Union Budget 2023-24 today in Parliament. Citing this year′s Budget as the "first Budget of Amrit Kaal and the blueprint for India @100,” she boosted the pharma sector by announcing a program to promote R&D.

The budget pushed an ambitious target for India to eradicate sickle cell anemia by 2047. She told the New Delhi assembly that the mission would be a joint effort between the federal government and other state administrations. She further added that the elimination drive would involve: raising awareness, conducting a widespread screening of 7 Crore (70 million) persons in the impacted tribal areas between the ages of 0 and 40 years and providing counseling through joint efforts between central ministries and state governments.

To improve the nation′s healthcare infrastructure, she announced the establishment of 157 new nursing colleges to be co-located with the 157 medical colleges already in existence. To promote a collaborative research environment, facilities from selected Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) labs would be made available for research by public and private medical institutions. 

The Centers of Excellence will implement a new initiative to encourage pharmaceutical research and innovation. This will motivate the pharmaceutical companies to increase their investment in research. Pharmaceutical companies had been asking for proper incentives to boost R&D spending for a long time. 

Source:

1. https://www.thehealthsite.com/news/union-budget-2023-live-updates-what-healthcare-experts-expect-from-finance-minister-nirmala-sitharaman-949409/?fbclid=IwAR2yYLgud4UZmWYXg6pE10swN8sy4bwoMo88Oc3UP5NtqgCZrL-sqysfY_c
2. https://www.wionews.com/india-news/india-budget-2023-mission-to-eliminate-sickle-cell-anaemia-by-2047-557806