Expectations on the Budget were high, especially for healthcare. With the economy’s recovery from the impact of the pandemic highly dependent on the health and well-being of the people, all eyes were on the Budget for the health sector. Last year’s Budget had set the bar high with the government giving health and well-being top priority, with an impressive increase of 137% over 2020’s health sector Budget. However, while the Budget speech this year did not have the same dramatic increase, it continued with its emphasis on healthcare, especially the digital aspects.
The digital focus of the Budget this year was evident in the way it was crafted for the new normal that we live and function in, across industries ranging from agriculture to education, from skilling to fintech and more. Healthcare, too, was in the digital spotlight with two key announcements that have the potential to transform healthcare delivery and take us closer to universal health access.
The first is the Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission that envisages the creation of an open platform, the National Digital Health Ecosystem to facilitate universal access to healthcare. With an infrastructure that supports a range of data and information services, this will act as a safe and secure digital registry of health providers and health facilities. The provision of unique health identities with a consent framework will help to ensure security, confidentiality and privacy of health-related personal information.
With the public and private sector working in collaboration, this will help to ensure thorough monitoring of an individual’s health and continuity of care. It will also enable quicker processing of claims and payments to health service providers and reduce the administrative burden on doctors allowing them to focus on delivering care.
The second aspect is that of mental health. While the pandemic has accentuated mental health issues, the problem has been recognized even earlier. In 2017, the Hon’ble President of India, Shri Ram Nath Kovind said that India was “facing a possible mental health epidemic”. Mental health issues also result in an economic burden on those suffering from them and prevent them from positively contributing to the economy. The WHO estimates the economic loss to India between 2012-2030 on account of mental health disorders to be US$ 1.03 trillion.
It is against this backdrop that the announcement of the National Tele Mental Health Programme is a welcome step. The National Tele Mental Health Programme will provide access to quality mental health counselling and care services through a network of 23 tele-mental health centres of excellence led by NIMHANS. This model can also be the prototype for other health services in future.