PRE-BUDGET RECOMMENDATIONS 2013-2014 – Rajat Goel, CEO and Co-founder, Eye Q Super Speciality Eye Hospitals
- No service tax on health services to continue: The healthcare sector has benefitted from the exemption of service tax and hopefully, this year service tax should not be imposed either. Government needs to consider that the healthcare services are already expensive for the common man, further taxes would only make them inaccessible.
- More investment to create doctor capacity: Government needs to invest more in the healthcare sector. Creating more medical colleges/ super specialisations is a necessity today. With a population of 1.2 billion, our country needs more doctors and specialists to accommodate the growing healthcare needs of the people.
- Healthcare to get industry status: All heavy investment and long gestation industries should get industry status so that we can get long term loan at special rates.
- Import of machinery can have lower tax duty: Hospitals and clinics depend on machinery largely. The government should lower the tax duty on import of these equipment that are essential for treatments. India needs international standard of medical facilities to offer quality health care services and the levied taxes should not become a barrier to achieve that. Ultimately, it will be an added advantage to the patients – they won’t have to pay higher price for the services and will also get the best treatment there is.
- Advertisement -
