Low investment in health sector's private domain; stimulus could be game-changer: V K Paul

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced Rs 1.5 lakh crore of additional credit for small and medium businesses, more funds for the healthcare sector, loans to tourism agencies and guides, and waiver of visa fee for foreign tourists as part of a package to support the pandemic-hit economy.

PTI

June 29, 2021 / 02:58 PM IST

NITI Aayog member Dr VK Paul (File image)

Investment in the expansion of the health sector in private domain has been relatively low and the recent stimulus announced by the government provides the country an opportunity to change this situation, NITI Aayog Member (Health) V K Paul said on Tuesday.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced Rs 1.5 lakh crore of additional credit for small and medium businesses, more funds for the healthcare sector, loans to tourism agencies and guides, and waiver of visa fee for foreign tourists as part of a package to support the pandemic-hit economy.

Also Read: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announces relief measures amid second COVID-19 wave in India

The government will also provide Rs 23,220 crore of additional funding for setting up children and paediatric care/beds at hospitals to prepare them for any emergency arising out of a possible third wave of COVID.

"There has been relatively low investment in the expansion of the health sector in the private domain. The stimulus announced yesterday provides us an opportunity to change this situation," Paul said while releasing a report titled 'Not-for-Profit Hospital Model in India' .

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

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