Budget 2018: Expecting a greater spend on healthcare, says Biocon chairman

Union Budget 2018-19 Live

Biocon chairman Kiran Majumdar Shaw on Wednesday said that she expects a greater spend on healthcare from the government in Union Budget 2018-19.

"I would like to see a greater spend on healthcare as here we have stagnated at below one percent GDP levels. For a country like India which is trying to aim to deliver universal healthcare we will need to treble this investment in healthcare," Shaw told ANI.

She also said that the country has affordable access to healthcare, but the need of the hour is a greater investment in this sector.

"India actually has everything going for it in terms of delivering universal healthcare, in terms of affordable access. What is really missing is investment and I think this is an opportunity for the government to provide this right to healthcare and also to encourage the youth to pursue science and technology and stem in general," the entrepreneur added.

Shaw also said that she would like to a see a boost in science and technology in the country as we have reached a status quo in the sector.

"Would like to see greater investment in science and technology. Today, department of science and technology shared disturbing data that we have reached a status quo when it comes to investment in science and technology that remains static at 0.69 percent of GDP," she concluded.

The finance minister has begun the Budget exercise for 2018. Income tax payers have high expectations of relief this time around. For senior citizens increasing the IT exemption limit and also the rebate on premium of health policies needs an upward revision. With the cost of consultation and medicines rising steeply, the domiciliary treatment amount has to be set at a minimum of Rs 50,000 per year.

The exemption limit for the salaried class should be pegged at a higher level as the value of money is going down.

Reform in the administration is an urgent need which can be significantly achieved by taking simple and long overdue steps. The need for employees to produce bills for their petrol, newspaper, telephone and medical expenses can be dispensed with. Also, the submission of 15G and 15H forms to banks should be necessitated for interest earned above Rs 1 lakh per annum or completely done away with. The current regulation of filing forms for interest of more than Rs 10,000 creates manual work and piling of physical

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