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Budget 2021: SII, Bharat Biotech hail Sitharaman for increased healthcare spending
Sitharaman's budget comes as the Indian economy is reeling under the devastating impact of the lockdown imposed to check the Covid-19 spread in the country.
Serum Institute of India (SII’s) chief executive officer Adar Poonawalla and Bharat Biotech’s chairperson and managing director Krishna Ella welcomed the emphasis on healthcare spending and the allocation of funds towards the country's vaccination drive in the Union Budget by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday. Sitharaman in her budget for the fiscal year 2021-22 doubled healthcare spending by 137 per cent to help improve public health systems and allocated ₹35,000 crore towards the country’s mammoth vaccination drive to immunise 1.3 billion people.
Pune-based SII is manufacturing Covishield vaccine, developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, which along with Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin is being used in the ongoing vaccination drive.
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"We welcome the Finance Minister's emphasis on healthcare spending & immunization especially for Covid-19 and the pneumococcal vaccines as this will help India recover rapidly from this pandemic," Poonawalla was quoted as saying by news agency ANI. “Great #Budget2021 announcements, @nsitharaman Ji, especially on healthcare and vaccines; this is the best investment any country can make. A healthier India is a more productive India,” he had also tweeted.
Bharat Biotech also hailed the budget and said the allocation of ₹35,000 crore for Covid-19 vaccination in the Union Budget would help the country become free of the viral disease. "It is a great step ahead, and far-reaching budget announcement, providing ₹35,000 crore for Covid-19 vaccination in 2021-22," it’s chairman and managing director Krishna Ella said, according to PTI.
Full Coverage: Union Budget 2021 | Track Live Coverage
Currently, the country spends about 1% of GDP on health, which is among the lowest for any major economy. Sitharaman's budget comes as the Indian economy is reeling under the devastating impact of the lockdown imposed to check the Covid-19 spread in the country. Millions of people lost their jobs and many small businesses were shut after the government imposed lockdown last year.
India is second-worst affected country form Covid-19 after the United States. As of Monday morning, the country has 10,757,610 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and its death toll stands at 154,392.
