Budget 2024: We were expecting more!

Let’s face it, the last month has been rather hectic.

The run-up to the Union Budget has been rather frantic.

July began with a bang: the T20 World Cup came home.

Now, gold medals will also be won under the Olympic dome!

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This August, we will celebrate our 77th Independence Day.

We have come far, but the destination is still quite far away.

Inspirational speeches will lay a path to an aspirational future.

A tapestry of dreams, stitched together with new thread or suture.

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Waiting for those stories to unfold, let’s take a quick-and-dirty look…

At the state of the nation and how it seems in a tiny corner or small nook.

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Great Expectations, Meet Annoyance, and Frustrations…

The absence of ‘reform’ left the healthcare industry rather disappointed.

Instead of an expansive Healthcare 3.0, announced measures were disjointed.

They wanted incentives and regulatory changes leading to a paradigm shift in care.

What they got was a little here, a little there, and lots of empty space everywhere!

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Most people were surprised that the importance of healthcare was being ignored.

In aspiring to become a developed country, this was an oversight we could ill afford.

Yes, the government has gotten close to its stated target of public healthcare spending.

The fear is that momentum is being lost, and that may be the reason for all the venting.

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Misplaced Reliance, Compliance, and the Sound of Silence…

The noise of the FY25 Union Budget allocation could almost wake the dead.

That around the medical education scandal is louder; the last word hasn’t been said.

Several questions are being raised about how the process has hitherto really worked.

Complaints span corruption, overly generous scoring, and responsibilities shirked.

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Yes, selecting the best and the brightest to study medicine absolutely matters.

In today’s ever-changing world, how you learn in the classroom can’t be in tatters.?

Murmurs over excessive reliance on an exam-oriented system are now getting louder.

Shift gears, adapt education technology, take quantum leaps and made us prouder.

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Take a leaf – and some money – from the education budget for a pedagogy upgrade.

Teaching medicine dynamically can be enhanced with an AR or VR teaching aid.

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Let’s Go Past Budget Reactions, Focus on Some Corporate Actions…

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Despite all the good things it does, even the latest technology can also go bad.

Sometimes the fix is simple: maybe just replace parts, which are easily had.

But bad luck can also be compounded, leading to a substantial penalty.

Firms have learned that large fines are something of an American jury’s specialty.

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In the meanwhile, drug and vaccine makers make the most attractive targets.

A winner usually emerges after a tightly fought bidding war in auction markets.

The price for the prize can be daunting, so methods of getting money are mixed.

Different strokes for different folks, but sooner than later it gets easily fixed.

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Some New Trends, and Odds and Ends…

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Medicine can sometimes be a bounty that generously gives, and gives again.

A single vaccine to prevent two diseases is a near miracle that’s not in vain.

What about an injection that not only cuts your pain by more than half? That’s not all.

It also regenerates cartilage, the loss of which caused the pain. That’s not small.

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And sometimes there’s the strange example, and this one puts out a really odd fact.

A study shows that a 1,500 year old stress relieving practice hasadverse impact.

Another destroyed a fondly held belief about the health benefits of moderation.

Apparently, people have been self-deluded victims of a flawed research operation.

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End Note

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And so we come to the end of another month and another (W)Rap edition.

Funnily enough, it’s hard to both - keep up or give up this ongoing tradition.

Feedback helps to fuel the spirit and the desire to keep this effort going.

It helps ascertain whether these stories are interesting or adds to knowing.

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The monsoon is still going strong, and getting to office requires you to try.

But it’s a good season: rain days and weekdays don’t always make you cry!