Promotion of vaccination against cervical cancer for girls in the age group of 9-14 years, extending health cover for ASHA and Anganwadi workers, setting up more medical colleges, and streamlining maternal and child healthcare schemes are some of the key features of the Interim Budget 2024-25 announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday.
A committee for establishing infrastructure in hospitals will be set up to examine the issues and make relevant recommendations.
However, there has been no Budget allocation for extending Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) to all ASHA and Anganwadi workers. The Health Budget for 2024-25 saw a marginal increase from Rs 86,306.15 crore last year to Rs 90,658.63 crore. It included an allocation of Rs 3,001 crore in health research, which was marginal compared to last year.
All maternal and child healthcare schemes will be consolidated under a comprehensive program to ensure synergy in implementation. The upgradation of Anganwadi centres under ‘Saksham Anganwadi’ and Poshan 2.0 will be expedited to enhance nutrition delivery, early childhood care, and development, as stated by the Minister.
To further the Digital India initiative of the Government, the Minister proposed the expeditious nationwide rollout of the newly designed U-WIN platform. This platform will be utilised for managing immunisation and advancing efforts under Mission Indradhanush, she added.
According to the Minister, new nursing colleges will be established, co-located with the 157 recently established medical colleges. Sitharaman has also announced a mission to eliminate sickle cell anemia by 2047, which will involve screening seven crore people.
During the budget presentation, she also announced that facilities in select ICMR labs would be made available for research by public and private medical college faculty and the private sector.
In Financial Year 2023-24, the expenditure of the Union Health Ministry was estimated to be Rs 89,155 crore, reflecting a 13 per cent increase from the revised estimates for 2022-23. The National Health Mission constitutes its largest component, accounting for 33 per cent of the Ministry’s Budget, while medical colleges and hospitals comprise 27 per cent of the Budget. It is noteworthy that high out-of-pocket expenditures and a shortage of healthcare personnel remain major issues.
In fiscal 2023-24, the government proposed to spend Rs 45,03,097 crore, marking a 7.5 per cent increase over the revised estimate of 2022-23. In 2022-23, the total expenditure is estimated to be 6.1 per cent higher than the Budget estimate.
