New Delhi: The interim budget of the outgoing NDA government may increase by 5% from last year’s allocation of Rs 52,800 crore, according to a report in the Times of India. However, as per an expenditure projection statement presented by this government to parliament in August 2018, the health budget may actually increase by 11% – to Rs 59,039 crore – IndiaSpend stated.
The government may also make some new announcements on improving trauma care and emergency services across the public and private sectors.
According to the Times of India, the government is keen to give primary healthcare a boost – primary healthcare is among the two parts of the Ayushman Bharat programme, which was launched in the last budget. So far, it is the health insurance part of the programme which has received the most attention.
A report in the Indian Express said that of the 1.53 lakh health and wellness centres promised by 2022, only 6,000 are functional so far. Moreover, 2,500 of them are in just two states – Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The government’s target for functional health and wellness centres for 2018-2019 was 15,000 and with only 6,000 truly functional centres currently, the government is lagging on its short-term and long-term targets.
On the same issue, the Times of India reported that the government has approved 15,000 such centres so far and may announce plans for another 5,000-10,000 for the next year.
The plan for these centres is to specifically provide better maternal, child and adolescent healthcare. Apart from communicable diseases, the wellness centres are also going to start putting a focus on non-communicable ones. They are intended to also provide free drugs and diagnostic services.
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The health insurance component of Ayushman Bharat – also known as the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana – is also expected to see a boost in allocation.
Last year, the government allocated just Rs 2,000 crore for the ambitious health programme that promises an insurance cover of Rs 5-10 crore families in India. Reuters reported that the government itself estimated that it may need Rs 12,000 crore more for this programme, which is five times its current allocation.
Going by the expenditure projection statement, from August 2018, the government may increase allocation for the National Health Mission from Rs 30,634 crore to Rs 35,962 crore, which is an increase of 17% or Rs 5,328 crore. But the allocation for tertiary care may be reduced by 17% to Rs 3,170 crore.
Between the previous Congress government and the current BJP one, there has been a substantial increase in health spending – the health budget in 2010 was about half of the budget in 2018.
Seen as a share of the total government expenditure, the UPA-II government hit a high point in 2013-2014, allocating 1.74% of its total expenditure to health. The NDA government has done better, hitting its high point in 2017-2018, allocating 2.32% of its total expenditure to health.