Published Feb 01, 2026 | 6:15 PM ⚊ Updated Feb 01, 2026 | 6:15 PM
A large group of medical professionals. Representative image. (iStock)
Synopsis: The health section of the Union Budget 2026 points to reforms aiming to upgrade existing AHP institutions, construct new ones in both public and private sectors, and add one lakh AHPs in five years. Experts warned that the success of this push will depend on what the Budget doesn’t spell out: money, regulation, wage frameworks and the enforcement capacity required to scale up safely and credibly.
The health section of the Union Budget 2026 put allied health professionals (AHPs) and caregivers at the centre of a new “care ecosystem” pitch. The new reform aims to upgrade existing AHP institutions, construct new ones in both public and private sectors, and add one lakh AHPs in five years across 10 disciplines. Alongside this, it promises to train 1.5 lakh multi-skilled caregivers in the coming year through NSQF-aligned programmes.
By committing to expand the allied workforce at scale, the Union Budget is also signalling where India’s next big healthcare capacity constraint lies: Not just doctors and nurses, but the clinical teams that keep diagnostics, operation theatres, dialysis units, rehabilitation services and hospital data systems running.
On paper, the government is publicly acknowledging that healthcare capacity is a team sport and that quality outcomes depend on trained technologists, therapists, mid-level cadres and caregivers — not just specialists.
Still, experts warned that the success of this push will depend on what the Budget doesn’t spell out: Money, regulation, wage frameworks and the enforcement capacity required to scale up safely and credibly.
The Budget document mentioned that existing AHP institutions would be upgraded and new institutions would be established in both government and private sectors, covering 10 selected disciplines.
It pointed to areas such as optometry, radiology, anaesthesia/OT technology, and applied psychology and behavioural health, among others. These are precisely the roles where hospitals and diagnostic chains routinely report shortages, and where gaps in training and supervision can directly affect patient safety.
Experts acknowledged the move and said that upgrading institutions and expanding seats are direct responses to real-world hospital constraints. If implemented well, it could shorten waiting times for diagnostics and procedures, improve operating theatres and ICUs throughout, and expand access to rehab and mental health support services that are often absent outside large cities.
The “selected 10” disciplines are not an entirely new, made-for-Budget list. They closely track the competency-based model curricula released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare in 2025: Physiotherapy; applied psychology and behavioural health; optometry; nutrition and dietetics; dialysis therapy; radiotherapy technology; medical radiology and imaging technology; anaesthesia and operation theatre technology; health information management; and physician associates.
Why that matters is that using competency-based curricula gives the rollout a clearer foundation than older, uneven course structures.
It creates the possibility of more standardised training, better portability of qualifications, and clearer expectations from employers, only if accreditation and licensing keep pace.
The Budget also promises a stronger care ecosystem for geriatric and allied care, with National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) -aligned programmes to train multi-skilled caregivers who combine core care with allied skills such as wellness, yoga, and operating medical and assistive devices.
It is important to note that India’s elder-care gap is increasingly about hands-on support outside hospitals: post-stroke rehabilitation, dementia care, post-operative support, assistive devices, and chronic disease monitoring at home. By anchoring caregiver training to the NSQF, the Budget is trying to make caregiving a recognised, standardised job role, one that could improve employability and portability of skills, and potentially improve service quality, if backed by placements and clear care pathways.
The government is recognising caregiving as skilling, not “informal help”, and this, according to Dr Sanjay G, a physician from Bengaluru, is a big policy shift.
If done right, it could professionalise the already existing workforce, help families find trained caregivers, and open up a large employment pipeline, particularly for women, with clearer training and certification, he added.
The announcement is heavy on numbers: One lakh AHPs and 1.5 lakh caregivers, but thin on delivery details.
There is no clear national costing in the speech excerpt, and little clarity on where upgraded and new institutions will come up, how many seats per discipline are planned, or how the faculty pipeline will be built.
There is also no detail on clinical training sites, internships, or who pays for the “private sector” expansion.
Allied health education is resource-intensive. Imaging, OT/anaesthesia technology and radiotherapy training depend on equipment access and supervised clinical exposure, not just classrooms. Without this backbone, rapid expansion risks becoming a numbers game.
What’s positive here is that the government is not starting from scratch. India already has a statutory framework: the National Commission for Allied and Healthcare Professions Act, 2021, meant to regulate standards, institutions and professional registers.
A legal framework, model curricula and the push for standardisation can, together, enable a more credible workforce expansion than earlier fragmented approaches.
However, the Budget’s expansion plan will collide with ground realities. State-level councils and oversight systems remain patchy and sometimes non-functional, weakening licensing, quality control and patient safety. Reporting from states has flagged delays and non-operational allied healthcare councils even after court interventions.
Experts warned that if the government expands education without simultaneously strengthening accreditation, state registration and enforcement, it could lead to credential inflation and a boom in borderline institutions.
The chosen 10 disciplines map neatly to what is growing fast: Diagnostics and procedure-heavy care, expanding surgical volumes, rising demand for mental health support, and hospital expansion.
The list reflects where the health system is already under strain: scans, OTs, dialysis, rehab, chronic disease management, and documentation-heavy hospital workflows. If India is serious about reducing delays and improving patient safety, these are logical pressure points to address.
But the “selected 10” framing also invites scrutiny. Are these being picked primarily for public health needs, or for private-sector employability and medical tourism demand?
Speaking to South First, Dr Rajeev BR, public health doctor at the Institute of Public Health, Bengaluru, said: “There is so much focus on medical tourism. This is a paradox. While basic primary and secondary healthcare needs strengthening for Indians, the focus in this budget is on tourists, foreigners, etc. However, the focus on allied health professions is a positive step,” he added.
Several allied roles crucial for disabled people, rehabilitation and chronic disease management can still get sidelined if they are not explicitly prioritised in seat expansion, district-level deployment plans, and pay parity.
Speaking to South First, Dr Shakeeb Ahmed Khan, Physiotherapist who works with specially abled children and adults, said, adding one lakh certified professionals means families in smaller cities and rural areas will have access to easier rehabilitation professionals rather than travelling to metros for basic physical therapy and other 10 allied disciplines.
However, one missing aspect, Dr Shakeeb pointed out, is the absence of special educators and occupational therapists from the top 10 priority list.
“For the disability sector, especially for children with Autism and ADHD, these professionals are important for functional independence but unfortunately remain outside budgetary allocations.”
The Budget appears to be betting on a moment when “standardisation is ready” with competency-based curricula built through the health ministry and the NCAHP framework. But scaling that uniformly nationwide is a different task altogether.
Training 1.5 lakh caregivers in a year is an ambitious target. It can quickly build a workforce for ageing and chronic care needs, but “multi-skilled caregiver” can also become code for low-cost labour unless the ecosystem includes clear protections and standards: Minimum training hours and supervised practice, certification that employers actually recognise, wage benchmarks, workplace safety and harassment protections, social security or insurance, and strict scope-of-practice rules.
However, if standards and worker protections are built in, India could finally create a reliable long-term care workforce, improving home-based care for seniors and reducing avoidable hospital admissions. It could also generate a structured entry point into the health system for many young people, with pathways to additional qualifications over time.
Without safeguards, experts fear the programme could funnel people into precarious work with high emotional and physical load while families and hospitals still struggle to find reliable, accountable caregivers.
However, clinicians and public health doctors acknowledge that the budget put allied health and caregiving in the spotlight and that, in itself, is a meaningful shift. It acknowledges that healthcare delivery depends on the “missing middle” of trained clinical teams and caregivers, not just doctors.
“If the government backs the headcounts with real funding, stronger state-level regulation, robust clinical training capacity and fair wages, this could translate into better patient safety, faster services, and a major new employment pipeline,” said Dr Sanjay.
However, if it doesn’t, the risk is familiar: Rapid skilling targets without enough oversight, uneven training quality, and a workforce added on paper but not strengthened in practice.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
