E-Paper
Union Budget 2021: Health budget increased by 137%, says finance minister
Many inclusions in the budget this year have been made keeping in mind the Covid-19 pandemic, and to deal with such public health emergencies in future
India’s overall allocation for the health sector has gone up by 137% for the financial year 2021-22 as compared to the previous year, with the finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announcing an allocation of ₹2.24 lakh crore while presenting this year’s Union Budget on Monday.
“…This is as opposed to ₹94,452 crore mentioned in the 2020-2021 budget that marks an increase of 137%,” she said.
Health and well-being is one of the key pillars of the six that this year’s budget proposal rests on. Government’s three focus areas in the health segment mentioned by the finance minister were preventive, curative and well-being.
Many inclusions in the budget this year have been made keeping in mind the Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic, and to deal with such public health emergencies in future, including setting aside ₹35,000 crore for Covid-19 vaccines.
Also read | Budget 2021: FM announces voluntary vehicle scrapping policy
“Two or more vaccines are expected soon, and I allot ₹35,000 crore for Covid-19 vaccines in 2021-22, and am committed to providing more funds, if required,” Sitharaman said.
The use of another key vaccine, pneumococcal vaccine, that saves children from fatal health conditions such as pneumonia, meningitis, and sepsis will be expanded to other states. Currently, the vaccine is being used only in five states. “It will prevent more than 50,000 child deaths annually in India,” said Sitharaman.
The finance minister has also proposed a programme called PM Aatmanirbhar Swastha Bharat with an outlay of Rs64,180 crore over six years, which is in addition to the Centre’s National Health Mission programme.
“This is to build capacity of primary, secondary and tertiary level health care facilities, and handle new emerging diseases…,” the finance minister said.
Fifteen health emergency centres have also been proposed in the budget, and also strengthening of national centre for disease control (NCDC) that is responsible for, among several other key health initiatives, surveillance of infectious diseases with the potential of turning into large-scale outbreaks.
Two mobile hospitals have also been proposed that could largely help in making health care services accessible in remote areas in the country.
Since malnutrition is one of the primary concerns in India because of which many health-related indicators are still not improving, the government has proposed launching an improvised Mission Poshan 2.0, and to merge some of the other nutrition-related progarmmes to give this initiative a boost.
