Public expenditure on health to be increased: Nirmala Sitharaman

Apart from increasing public health spending, the government has also decided to create a dedicated infectious diseases block at hospitals and establish government diagnostic lab till the block level to strengthen the country’s testing capacity at the grass-roots level.

Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said there will be an increase in public health expenditure, which currently hovers a little over 1%, as she announced a slew of measures to reform the sector in the country to brace for such pandemic situations in future.

Special focus will also be on ramping health and wellness centres in villages, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.(PTI)

Apart from increasing public health spending, the government has also decided to create a dedicated infectious diseases block at hospitals and establish government diagnostic lab till the block level to strengthen the country’s testing capacity at the grass-roots level.

Special focus will also be on ramping health and wellness centres in villages, she said.

“The government will be increasing investments in public health to be absolutely ready for such eventualities in future,” said Sitharaman.

The strengthening of government lab network in villages will also help in maintaining robust surveillance. The step has been taken specially to keep in mind pandemic situations in future so that clustering is picked up early and containment measures are put in place immediately for a better outcome.

“Increasing testing capacity is the key in better managing any outbreak situation that hinges on test, isolate and treat guidelines. This will be a big plus for the public health system,” said an official in the health ministry, requesting not to be identified.

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) will be contributing to building a national institutional platform for one health that will boost research initiatives.

Also, the implementation of national digital health blueprint will be expedited to make better use of technology in delivering healthcare services in the country.

The health ministry has already released at least ₹4,113 crore directly for anti-coronavirus disease (Covid-19) activities so far, of the ₹15,000 crore funds allocated by the Centre for containment. The essential items worth ₹3,750 crore and testing labs and kits worth ₹550 crore has also been disbursed.

Another significant step was providing an insurance cover of ₹50 lakh per person for health professionals under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana.

The information technology system will also be leveraged in a big way to meet the demands of the sector, the finance minister said.

So far, issuing guidelines for conducting consultations through telemedicine has worked, with the government rolling out e-Sanjeevani Tele-Consultation Services and building capacity by having introduced e-training modules for healthcare and other workers.

The launch of Aarogya Setu app is another important step that has led to the identification of several potential hot spots in the country. Close to 100 million people have already registered on the app that also tells people’s risk of contracting Covid-19.

“We have also taken great care in protecting our healthcare workers by increasing the domestic manufacturing industry for personal protection equipment and N-95 masks. We have identified some 300 domestic manufacturers who from zero kits to now are capable of producing 3 lakh kits in a day,” said Sitharaman.

Experts in the field said these are initiatives in the right direction.

“The announcements regarding ₹15,000 cr allocated for Covid-19 containment and treatment including for essential items and testing kits is a much needed support… Leveraging of IT services for teleconsultation will help patients with non Covid health issues, who were left stranded due to cessation of all non-emergency health services,” Charu Sehgal, partner and leader of life sciences and healthcare at Deloitte India, said in a statement.

“Our doctors and health workers have been working under very trying circumstances and without adequate protection. The increase in the supply of PPE (57 lacs already supplied and more than 300 domestic manufacturers producing) N-95 masks (87 lacs have been provided) is the right start but we need many many more supplies given the situation,” Sehgal added.