Lt Gen Dr Vimal Arora (Retd), Chief Clinical Officer, Clove Dental:
“As India looks ahead to Union Budget 2026, one critical gap in healthcare planning continues to go unaddressed: oral health still does not feature as a dedicated priority within the national budget. This oversight is particularly concerning at a time when the government has rightly emphasised cancer care in 2025 as a key focus area.
Oral cancer is the most common cancer among Indian men and contributes to a disproportionately high share of the country’s overall cancer burden. India accounts for nearly one-third of global oral cancer cases, with outcomes severely affected by late diagnosis and limited access to early screening, especially in rural and underserved regions. Yet oral healthcare remains folded into the broader healthcare and oncology budgets, without targeted investment in prevention or early detection.
While overall healthcare spending continues to remain close to 2 per cent of the total budget below the 2.5 per cent target set by the National Health Policy, how this allocation is prioritised is just as important as the quantum itself. Budget 2026 presents an opportunity to recognise oral health as a standalone public health category, with focused funding for screening, awareness, and primary-level intervention. Strengthening oral healthcare is not an add-on to cancer policy; it is essential to making cancer care more effective, equitable, and sustainable.”
Nirav Mehta, CEO and Managing Director, CORONA Remedies
“The Union Budget 2026–27 is a pivotal opportunity to structurally align India’s healthcare ambitions with the next phase of pharmaceutical sector growth. As the industry scales in complexity and global relevance, policy frameworks that reinforce resilient domestic manufacturing, enable sustained R&D investments, and improve affordability and access to quality medicines will be critical. A clear, long-term policy commitment to innovation and environmentally responsible production will not only strengthen India’s competitiveness but also firmly position the country as a trusted global hub for science-led, value-driven pharmaceutical manufacturing.”
Dev Tripathy, Head of Finance, Philips Indian Subcontinent:
“Delivering quality healthcare to the last mile is crucial for India, and this can only be achieved by leveraging AI. AI enables early diagnosis and consolidates data points, helping clinicians make accurate decisions and bridge the supply-demand gap. India has the talent to drive AI-led innovation, and incentives for AI innovation, job creation, and high-end service exports through Global Capability Centres (GCCs) must be prioritised. This will foster innovation and position India as a competitive global player. To establish India as a medical device export hub, we need a sustainable ecosystem for MedTech manufacturing. New PLI schemes should encourage holistic development, ensuring comprehensive growth across the industry. Finally, with ongoing geopolitical instability and currency pressures, rationalised duty structures are essential to make healthcare more affordable and accessible for all.”
Sriram Velliyur, Co-founder & CEO, Curapod
“As India prepares for the Union Budget 2026–27, the healthcare sector is calling for a more structured and forward-looking fiscal approach to strengthen primary care, non-communicable disease (NCD) management, and the adoption of modern therapeutic technologies. Non-communicable diseases now account for nearly 65 per cent of all deaths in the country, driven by conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and chronic respiratory illnesses—placing a significant economic and social burden on families and the healthcare system.
Within this broader NCD challenge, chronic pain affects millions of Indians yet remains an under-discussed public health issue, despite its direct impact on quality of life, workforce productivity, and long-term healthcare costs. Recognising pain management as an integral part of primary healthcare, along with improving awareness and access to validated, non-invasive, at-home therapies, can play an important role in reducing prolonged dependence on medication and the associated risks.
Against this backdrop, there is a growing industry consensus around the need for policy support that prioritises preventive care, early screening, and technology-enabled solutions. Enhanced public health spending, targeted incentives for medical innovation, and investments in healthcare infrastructure can help address these unmet needs. A Union Budget that emphasises prevention, holistic care, and accessible therapeutic technologies has the potential to meaningfully lower the economic and social burden of chronic conditions and strengthen India’s healthcare ecosystem for future challenges.”
Dr Puneet Khanduja, Lead Health and Nutrition practice group in India, MicroSave Consulting (MSC):
“Budget 2026 must be framed as a health systems budget, not a healthcare spending budget. The required shift is from fragmented funding to predictable financing, from service expansion to system resilience, from treatment dominance to prevention and early detection, from technology pilots to national digital infrastructure, and from cost containment to innovation-led competitiveness.”
Rajiv Vasudevan, MD, CEO & Founder, Apollo AyurVAID
“Over the last few years, the government has made sustained and visible efforts to build awareness and credibility for the Ayush medical system, both within India and globally. MoAyush’s own research initiatives as well as collaborations with WHO, DBT, ICMR, etc. signal a clear intent to move towards evidence-based integration. However, translating this intent into substantial reality shall require dedicated investment commitments of the order of a minimum of INR 500 cr. per year over the next 5 years whereby robust evidence is built for Ayurveda as treatment of choice for select medical conditions starting with conditions such as Diabetes, Parkinson’s, Osteoarthritis-Knee, Lumbar Spondylosis and Sciatica in addition to gut health, sleep health, etc. This provision should be to set up a separate moonshot mission for evidence building fostering strategic public-private partnerships just as DBT has successfully demonstrated in the biotechnology sector over the last 2 decades. Not only shall this reduce healthcare spends for the Government in the medium term with elective surgery and emergency care reduced/obviated, but it will also be welcomed by society at large.
On the demand side, the Government must make a separate budgetary provision for inclusion of Ayurveda-Ayush in the ABPMJAY program. This is an imperative from the public health perspective so that effective secondary and tertiary prevention is covered and out-of-pocket expenses of the common man, currently at an estimated 48 per cent of total spend, is significantly reduced.”