Positioning health as one of the six crucial pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India), the Government on Monday proposed a Budget outlay of Rs 2,23,846 crore for the sector to be spread over the next six years, a massive increase of 137 per cent from the previous year, which include Rs 35,000 crore for Covid-19 vaccine and Rs 64,180 crore for newly-announced PM Atmanirbhar Swasth Yojana.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who presented the Budget in the Lok Sabha, said the investment on public health, infrastructure has been increased substantially in the Budget. Taking a holistic approach, the Government is committed to strengthening three areas — preventive, curative and well-being, she said.
Sitharaman said the Prime Minister’s Atmanirbhar Swasth Yojana will be launched for developing capacities for primary, secondary and tertiary health-care systems, strengthening existing institutions and creating new institutions for detection and cure of new emerging diseases. This, she said, will be an addition to the National Health Mission.
The funds under the Atmanirbhar Swasth Mission will be used to support 17,000 rural and 11,000 urban wellness centres, setting up integrated public health labs in all districts, over 3,800 block public health units in 11 States and establishing critical care hospital blocks in over 600 district hospitals and 12 central institutions, she said.
Similarly the money will be spent on strengthening National Centre for Disease Control and its five regional units, 20 metropolitan health surveillance units and on expansion of national health information portal, she said.
She also proposed to roll out the pneumococcal vaccine, which is currently limited to only 5 States, across the country, helping the country to avert more than 50,000 child deaths annually.
In the Union Budget, Rs 71,268.77 crore has been allocated to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, as against Rs 65,011.8 crore allocated in 2020-2021. However, later the budget was revised and increased to 78,866 crore because of Covid-19.
An allocation of Rs 2,663.00 crore has also been made to the Department of Health Research in the 2021-22 Budget. The Ministry of AYUSH has been allocated Rs 2970.30 for the next fiscal as against Rs 2,122.08 crore proposed for 2020-2021 fiscal.
Investment in health infrastructure in Budget 2021-22 has increased substantially, Sitharaman said.
Hailing the Budget proposal, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the allocation of Rs 35,000 crore for Covid-19 vaccines and commitment to providing further support will help end this pandemic and expedite economic recovery while the Minister of State for Health Ashwini Choubey termed the budget “historic” and said it was for the welfare of the public.
Poonam Khetrapal Singh, the Regional Director WHO South-East Asia Region, said, “The thrust and focus to health in India’s Budget announcement is a testimony to the country’s commitment to not just fight back the Covid-19 pandemic, but to build a stronger and resilient health system. India has been demonstrating this.”
However, Kapil Banga, Assistant Vice President, ICRA Limited felt that the budgetary allocation for the healthcare sector for the fiscal year 2022 will translate into a 10 percent drop in the allocation, if compared to the revised estimate for 2021. Nonetheless, the allocation translates to a growth of 11 per cent, if it is compared to the Budget estimates for 2021.
“The Government has launched PM Atma Nirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana (PMANSBY) and has also allocated Rs. 35,000 crore towards the cost of the vaccine. However, as the total allocation towards the healthcare sector has come down vis-a-vis revised estimates for 2021, this could translate into cutting of expenditure on other avenues within the sector.
“The continuing modest allocation towards the healthcare sector would make it challenging for the Government to meet its target of public sector healthcare investment of 2.5 percent of the GDP by 2025,” Banga added.