Healthcare Sector Needs Financial Support, Says Nirmala Sitharaman

The Centre is in constant touch with various stakeholders to support economic growth, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday, while addressing a webinar on health infrastructure.

“Revival of the economy, for various other reasons, requires a certain kind of support,” Ms Sitharaman said at the webinar, which was arranged to sensitise the healthcare sector about the government's loan guarantee scheme.

She emphasised that the much in focus healthcare sector which was stretched to its limits during the second wave of the Coronavirus pandemic, now needs support in order to ramp up its capacities so that better technologies and trained manpower can be added to it.

The government is supporting the sector through its Loan Guarantee Scheme for Covid Affected Sectors (LGCAS), the minister said.

Under the scheme, banks will provide credit up to Rs 50,000 crore to hospitals, clinics, dispensaries, among others, and the government will give 75 per cent and 50 per cent guarantee on such loans for greenfield and brownfield projects, respectively. In aspirational districts, guarantee cover for both brownfield and greenfield projects is 75 per cent. Maximum loan availed under the scheme is Rs 100 crore per project.

The Finance Minister said that in order to ramp up facilities in hospitals, the banking sector needs to come forward give them support.