For over a decade, India’s healthcare budgets have prioritised hospitals, beds, and subsidised treatments. From the National Health Mission in the early 2010s to Ayushman Bharat’s 2018 launch, public spending has largely addressed illness after it occurs rather than preventing it.This approach achieved scale. Ayushman Bharat created one of the world’s largest public health insurance programs. Medical colleges multiplied. District hospitals expanded. Yet it also exposed a critical weakness: India remains treatment-dependent, with costs peaking late and preventive care chronically underfunded.As Union Budget 2026 approaches, healthcare industry leaders argue the time has come to rebalance this equation.What Budget 2025-26 deliveredBudget 2025-26, presented in February 2025, marked a substantial healthcare intervention. The government raised allocations by 11% to Rs 99,859 crore, expanded PM-JAY coverage to gig and platform workers, announced 200 new cancer daycare centers, committed to adding 75,000 medical seats over five years, reduced customs duties on life-saving drugs, and backed digital health infrastructure and medical tourism initiatives.Despite these gains, health spending as a percentage of GDP remains modest by global standards at 1.94%. More critically, the bulk of incremental spending continues flowing to downstream care, hospitals, and tertiary treatment rather than early intervention.This pattern is what healthcare investors, operators,… Read MoreYourStory RSS Feed
Home Uncategorized Union Budget 2026: Healthcare industry makes the case for prevention over treatment
