Industry body the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) urged the government to extend tax holiday benefits to hospitals and medical institutes and also provide them land at concessional rates to improve healthcare in smaller cities and rural areas.
"Conscious efforts aimed at making healthcare universally accessible through innovative modes and mechanisms of healthcare financing, by devising ways to integrate private players through PPP models are essential to enhance healthcare delivery in the country," CII said here today.
Healthcare improvements in smaller cities and rural areas have not kept pace with those in the metros and bigger cities and there still continues to be a major disparity between urban and rural healthcare indices, it pointed out.
As per the chamber's data there are only 1.5 beds, 0.5 physicians and 0.9 nurses per 1,000 people in the country today.
"There is an urgent need to add 8,00,000 beds by 2012 with an estimated capital outlay of $20-30 million per year for the next decade," CII said.
It said the government should create conducive environment to attract investment and accord priority status to healthcare by extending tax holiday benefits for hospitals and medical/paramedical institutes, providing land at concessional rates and financing by India Infrastructure Finance Company.
