Budget 2018 Expectations – Dr. Anitha Arockiasamy, President, India Home Health Care

“We feel that the budget should focus on allocation of resources and adequate funds for skill upgradation of not only doctors but also nurses too. There is also a need to introduce new innovations in the home healthcare segment, and encourage the availability of care at home, thus freeing up hospital beds and helping patients recover at their homes at a lower cost. We feel that the government needs to have initiatives in place to spread awareness about healthcare, especially geriatric care, in semi-urban and rural areas as this is developing to be a highly needed service with the changing demographics and disease patterns. There are growing concerns about increase in non-communicable diseases such as cancer, heart related ailments, diabetes among others and we expect that government will focus on addressing these diseases”.