News DeskDubai, UAE – Ahead of the Union Budget 2026–27, Dr. Azad Moopen, Founder and Chairman of Aster DM Healthcare, has called for a significant increase in public healthcare spending and a fresh wave of policy reforms to build a future-ready healthcare ecosystem in India.
Highlighting the pressures of serving a population of over 1.4 billion amid a rising burden of chronic diseases, Dr. Moopen said healthcare expenditure must move closer to 5 per cent of GDP to address gaps in infrastructure, affordability, and workforce capacity. He noted that strengthening the healthcare system would be critical to achieving the government’s “Viksit Bharat” vision and India’s goal of becoming a developed nation by 2047.
Welcoming the rollout of GST 2.0 in 2025, Dr. Moopen said the exemption of individual health and life insurance from GST, along with reduced taxes on essential life-saving medicines, reflected a strong commitment to improving healthcare affordability. He added that making preventive healthcare coverage more accessible should be the next priority to ensure long-term system resilience.
Looking ahead, Dr. Moopen advocated further reforms, including rationalised GST rates on advanced medical equipment and diagnostics, recalibrated customs duties on medical technologies, and faster regulatory pathways for digital health and research. He also called for targeted incentives to encourage private investments in Tier-2 and Tier-3 cities, healthcare start-ups, and research-driven enterprises to promote decentralisation and equitable access to care.
Emphasising the need to prepare for demographic and epidemiological shifts, he said policy focus should expand to oncology services, AI-enabled diagnostics, geriatric and long-term care, and chronic disease management. Dr. Moopen also underlined the importance of workforce skilling, medical education, and sustainable healthcare infrastructure as the complexity of care increases.
He concluded that the Union Budget 2026 has the potential to act as a bold roadmap for creating an equitable, innovation-led, and globally competitive healthcare system for India.
