Budget 2022 impact on pharma & healthcare

While the Union Budget 2022 acknowledged the accelerated improvement of health infrastructure in the past two years, it focussed on strengthening the delivery of mental health services through the rollout of a ‘National Tele Mental Health Programme’. This will include a network of 23 tele-mental health centres of excellence, with NIMHANS being the nodal centre and International Institute of Information Technology-Bangalore (IIITB) providing technology support.

The Budget speech identified ‘Genomics and Pharmaceuticals’ to be among the sunrise opportunities eligible for supportive policies, light-touch regulations, facilitative actions to build domestic capacities and promotion of R&D. The government will promote thematic funds for blended finance with the government share being limited to 20% and the funds being managed by private fund managers.

For the healthcare sector, the roll out of an open platform for the National Digital Health Ecosystem consisting of digital registries of health providers and health facilities, unique health identity, consent framework, and universal access to health facilities proves to be instrumental. It will facilitate the digitalisation of the sector that is underway and also boost the role of health-tech businesses.