New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s push to reform the indirect taxation system by rationalising Goods and Services Tax (GST) slabs has drawn strong support from the country’s healthcare stakeholders. While addressing the nation on the 79th Independence Day, the Prime Minister announced that next-generation GST reforms would be unveiled on Diwali, aimed at reducing taxes on essential goods and providing relief to MSMEs, local vendors, and consumers.

New Delhi: Calling for a complete overhaul of the existing regulatory and licensing framework in India, industry representative NATHEALTH flagged that the country’s “complex regulatory structure is creating compliance bottlenecks for the healthcare sector and preventing ease of doing business.” In a meeting with the Niti Aayog members, the lobby group presented a whitepaper highlighting that, healthcare industry is one of the “top three” regulated sectors in India, where 60 per cent of regulations are decentralized, thereby leading to complexity of compliance due to lack of standardization.

Healthcare industry body NATHEALTH on Sunday welcomed the government's National Building Construction Standards (NBCS) 2026, saying the new norms easing height restrictions on hospitals are expected to reduce infrastructure bottlenecks and improve access to healthcare, news agency PTI reported.The industry body said the revised standards allow hospitals to build beyond the previous limits and allow intensive care units (ICUs) above 45 metres, subject to enhanced fire safety provisions.According to NATHEALTH, the move is expected to address structural constraints such as high land costs, limited bed capacity and underutilization of existing infrastructure, especially in urban centres.“This move is expected to address structural constraints such as high land costs, limited bed capacity, and underutilization of existing infrastructure, especially in urban centres,” NATHEALTH said in a statement.The new NBCS 2026 rules represent an important step in building a future-ready healthcare infrastructure in India, said Sangeeta Reddy, President, NATHEALTH.“By unlocking much-needed capabilities across the healthcare ecosystem, this will enable hospitals to operate more efficiently and optimize cost benefits that can ultimately be passed on to patients, while maintaining the highest standards of safety,” said Reddy, who is also Group Managing Director, Apollo Hospitals.

With the Union Budget 2026 set to be presented on February 1, the healthcare industry body NATHEALTH has urged the government to raise public healthcare spending to over 2.5 per cent of GDP and take urgent steps to address the rising burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs).In its pre-Budget recommendations, NATHEALTH said the roadmap aims to strengthen healthcare delivery, foster innovation and expand insurance and preventive coverage. It called for a balanced mix of fiscal support, structural reforms and public-private collaboration to build a future-ready health system. Focus on infrastructure and preventive health…

Healthcare industry body NATHEALTH has asked the government to increase public spending on healthcare to over 2.5 per cent of GDP with urgent action to tackle non-communicable diseases, including tax deductions of up to Rs 10,000 on individuals for preventive health check-ups. In its pre-Budget recommendations to the government, NATHEALTH said it outlined a roadmap to strengthen healthcare delivery, foster innovation, and expand insurance and preventive coverage.

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