NEW DELHI: A new programme to promote research and innovation in pharmaceuticals will be taken up through centres of excellence, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced on Wednesday.
"We shall also encourage industry to invest in research and development,: she said while presenting the Union Budget 2023-24 in the parliament.
"Dedicated multidisciplinary courses for medical devices will be supported in existing institutions to ensure availability of skilled manpower for future futuristic medical technologies, high end manufacturing and research," she added.
She also said that the government will work in a mission mode to eliminate sickle-cell anaemia by 2047.
The minister also announced that 157 new nursing colleges will be established at core locations or places where the existing 157 medical colleges have been established since 2014.
Facilities in some selected Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) labs will be made available for research by public and private medical college faculty and private sector Research and Development teams for encouraging collaborative research and innovation.
The minister said India's rising global profile is because of several accomplishments. "Unique world-class digital public infrastructure, for example, Aadhar, Co-Win and UPI," she said.
She praised the Covid vaccination drive saying it was conducted on an unparalleled scale and with great speed.
Over 220 crore Covid vaccine doses have been administered in India. Ninety seven percent of eligible beneficiaries have already received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and around 90 percent of eligible beneficiaries have received both doses.