Budget reaction quote by Ms Sangita Reddy, Jt MD, Apollo Hospitals

Quote focuses on the announcements related to technology and its impact on healthcare.

“The Union budget 2018 has furthered the Digital India initiative to use technology to provide benefits to the common man living in Urban and rural India. The announcement of Niti Ayog establishing a national program for Artificial Intelligence (AI) is truly commendable. This program will explore Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning programs and its implementation across various sectors, including healthcare. AI and ML will play a pivotal role in disrupting and making healthcare more accessible and affordable which is the need of hour. The implementation of 5 lakh hotspots in rural India under the Bharat net initiative, setting up of broadband infrastructure will help in areas like telemedicine which plays a big role in helping rural Indians access quality healthcare. These are encouraging moves are in the right direction.”