Union Budget should prioritise preventive healthcare and expand access to public screening programmes

Narendra Varde – MD Roche Diagnostics India shares his expectations from budget 2022 for healthcare sector

The pandemic has highlighted the significance of screening and early detection in India’s healthcare ecosystem. With preventive healthcare and diagnostics being the first line of defense in the ecosystem, the Union Budget must look to prioritise the segment and enable it’s growth, fostering a more robust and reliable system of diagnostic testing, reporting and monitoring.

Pegged at USD 1255.18 million, the Indian In-vitro diagnostics market is expected to reach USD 1990.99 million in 2026 (1). As we gear towards the budget announcement, there is an expectation that a push on Research and Development must be incentivised to help private players to innovate and develop better products/services. Some special provisions could be made available to those players who are focusing on digitisation and automation in
healthcare delivery as it will expedite last-mile access in years to come.

We expect the Budget to be more conducive towards innovation, allowing private players to better work towards bringing down costs through innovative offerings, thereby increasing affordability. As patient awareness on the benefits of early diagnosis continues to grow, serving Indians across different economic and social stratas will become the need of the hour.

With a presence across 450 cities across India, Roche has always prioritised expanding access over profitability. Beyond this, there is a need to have easier access to diagnostic services via mobile labs for spot screening and testing, thereby setting up a robust ecosystem that is conducive to better testing. The government can also replicate the hub
and spoke model of private labs players to increase reach and access to diagnostic care.

Another important aspect is the empowering of patients via the use of technologies like AI to harness data from wearables. In 2021-22, the total public health sector allocation stood at 1.2 per cent of the GDP. With the COVID-19 pandemic revealing shortcomings and gaps in our health infrastructure, this figure needs to increase significantly. An increase in this number will not only boost growth in diagnostic, health infrastructure and insurance, but will also signal opportunities for investment in the country.

According to the Centres of Disease Control and Prevention, 70% (2)of medical decisions depend on laboratory results. With Diagnostics playing such a vital part in the healthcare framework, it is the need of the hour to have this sector grow into a more efficient vertical to improve the health trajectory of the nation. With COVID-19 taking precedence over various diseases like, Cervical Cancer, TB, Hepatitis, there is a need to bring back focus on
non-communicable diseases that take a huge economic toll on the country.

Apart from the focus on NCDs and public health programmes, the government must also need to make a significant push into precision medicine as part of the broader move towards innovative and personalised care. Products like the Roche AVENIO Edge System(3) that simplify and automate next-generation sequencing sample preparation,
reduce human error and advance precision medicine will be vital to early detections in the future.

All in all, the Union Budget presents a wonderful opportunity to to empower the nation with a reliable and efficient healthcare system whose impact will be best realised in better health economic outcomes and quality of life.

References:
1. https://www.mordorintelligence.com/industry-reports/india-in-vitro-diagnostics-market

2. https://www.cdc.gov/csels/dls/strengthening-clinical-labs.html
3.  https://www.roche.com/media/releases/med-cor-2021-12-13b.htm