Dr Alok Roy, Chairman of Medica Superspecialty Hospital, on 2nd July said the main expectation from this year’s budget is that the healthcare industry must be made attractive from investment point of view.

"We have seen private healthcare players have slowed down their expansion plans. Keeping in mind the role played by the private healthcare sector, the government has to increase its intent to collaborate with private sector, '' Dr Roy added. '' The ambitious PMJAY scheme (Ayushman Bharat) holds a lot of promise and has the right intent, but I do hope the government authorities take the right partnership approach to a more inclusive participation," he opined.

"Government spending money on healthcare stays put at around one per cent of the GDP. The healthcare sector can only get affordable if the government revises this upwards. The government must extend sops to the sector especially with respect to power & utilities which is long overdue," Dr Roy commented.

'' Cost of medical equipment is another pain point, which requires thrust and making the medical devises & equipment a part of the Made in india , shall go onto benefit this sector. Introduction of Artificial Intelligence facilitating and predictive analytics for patient monitoring will add to significant financial savings and will increase the reach of healthcare in the country, '' he stated.

'' Let 2019 be a Year of Healthcare Digitization in the larger interest making healthcare more accessible, more affordable and patient-friendly, '' he said.