Budget 2018 Expectation – Ameera Shah, MD& Promoter, Metropolis Healthcare

“This year has been an important one for healthcare. Various initiatives ruled under the National Health Policy have helped in larger strata of the Indian population to access medical services at affordable prices. Post introduction of GST, the tax rate on medical devices was pegged at 12%, this, if reduced further can positively affect the overall cost structure thereby providing cost effective healthcare services to the society. The last budget had a lot of focus on policy direction and targets for elimination of chronic diseases which is laudable. In addition to increased spending, we also hope that this year’s budget with address the National Health Protection Scheme and also set impetus to generate demand for health insurance through additional exemptions”.