Union Budget 2009 disappoints health, legal sectors

The General Budget for the Financial Year 2009-10 presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee today has caused disappointment in the Health and legal sectors.

Reacting to the Budget proposals, presented in the Lok Sabha by the Finance Minister, renowned heart surgeon K K Aggarwal said it had nothing in it for the health sector.

‘The budget has increased allocation for Defence by 34 per cent to Rs 1,41,703 crore, while the allocation for health is quite meager. For example, the budget increases allocation under the Rural Health Mission by just Rs 257 crore,’ Dr Aggarwal said.

He said though the Finance Minister said health sector has been exempted from service tax, a service tax has been imposed on transport which means that ambulances come under its purview.

‘This year, they have imposed a tax on ambulances. Next year, it could be the health professionals,’ Dr Aggarwal said.

Also disappointing was the fact that no new health insurance scheme had been announced in the budget, he noted.

‘We were expecting the Government to announce new hospitals and dispensaries besides funding for buying new and technologically advanced medical equipment. But, nothing has been announced on this in the Budget. Further, there is no mention of any support for Ayurveda and Yoga,’ the Heart specialist said.

The budget also comes as a letdown for the lawyers fraternity.

Though, individual lawyers have been kept out of the purview of service tax, legal firms will have to shell out service tax.

Senior lawyer G D Rattan said, ‘The lawyers in the Capital have already been bearing the brunt of the reduction in their clientele due to opening of the new courts in Dwarka. The imposing of service tax adds to their misery. Though individual lawyers have been kept out of the purview of the tax, it is feared that in years to come, they might have to fork out a big chunk of their income in form of service tax.’ Another senior High Court lawyer Mirdanshu said, ‘In these times of recession when many clients have become tight fisted, the service tax on legal professionals comes as an additional burden on the lawyers.’