Proposed Medical Hub in Budget 2026–27 to Boost Medical Education and Health Tourism

During the Budget 2026, 27 event, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced the initiative of establishing five medical tourism hubs and rolling out a 'Biopharma Shakti programme' with funds of Rs 10, 000 crore over the next five years.

Sitharaman said, “To promote India as a hub for medical tourism services, I propose to launch a scheme to support states in establishing five regional medical hubs in partnership with the private sector.

Sitharaman said that these hubs will serve as integrated healthcare complexes that combine medical, educational, and research facilities.

These medical tourism hubs will have AYUSH centres, medical value tourism facilitation centres, and infrastructure for diagnostics, post-care, and rehabilitation. She added that these hubs will provide diverse job opportunities for health professionals, including doctors and allied health professionals (ALPs).

Sitharaman also proposed to set up three new All India Institute of Ayurveda.

Sitharaman further proposed the Biopharma Shakti with an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore over the next five years to build the ecosystem for domestic production of biologics and biosimilars.

The strategy will include a biopharma-focused network with three new National Institutes of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, popularly known as NIPERS, and upgrading seven existing ones, Sitharaman said.

“It will also create a network of 1,000 accredited India clinical trials sites. We propose to strengthen the central drug standard control organisation to meet global standards and approve timeframes, through an approval time frames through a dedicated scientific review cadre, and specialists,” Sitharaman further said.

This is a developing story.