Healthcare gets a major boost with National Health Protection Scheme
In a major step towards providing Universal Health Coverage the finance minister Arun Jaitley in his 2018 Union Budget announced a National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS) providing health insurance worth Rs 5 lakh to 10 crore poor families. NHPS is expected to benefit 50 crore people across India and called its as the largest government-funded health insurance scheme to be implemented anywhere in the world. Jaitley also announced the creation of Health and Wellness centres. These centres, 1.5 lakh in number, will provide free essential drugs and diagnostic services. Rs. 1200 crores have been allocated for this. "The announcement in the area of healthcare is clearly path-breaking for the sheer size, coverage and the amount committed per family. This ushers India firmly in the next generation of social security as India moves aggressively towards a progressive developing economy," said Milind Kothari, Managing Partner, Head-Tax and Regulatory services, BDO India. -PTC News
