Health budget allocation increased by 85 pc in 2024-25: Anupriya Patel

New Delhi, Dec 13 (IANS) The government increased health budget allocation by 85 per cent in 2024-25, said Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Anupriya Patel on Friday.

“The budget allocation for the Department of Health & Family Welfare increased by 85 per cent from Rs 47,353 crore in 2017-18 (Budget Estimates) to Rs 87,657 crore in 2024-25 (BE),” said Patel, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

She further also informed a steady decline in the out-of-pocket expenditure (OOPE) in the country in the last five years -- “from 48.8 per cent in 2017-18 to 39.4 per cent in 2021-22.”

“The OOPE on health as a percentage of Total Health Expenditure (THE) in the country for the year 2017-18, 2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21, and 2021-22 are 48.8 per cent, 48.2 per cent, 47.1 per cent, 44.4 per cent, and 39.4 per cent respectively”.

In addition, the 15th Finance Commission “provided Rs 70,051 crore Grants for health through the local governments,” Patel said.

She noted that the Central government has taken several initiatives to supplement the efforts of the states to provide quality and affordable healthcare services to the people and reduce the OOPE.

This includes projects, namely “Pradhan Mantri -Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM), Ayushman Aarogya Mandir (erstwhile AB-HWC), and Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY)”.

PM-ABHIM is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with some Central Sector components with an outlay of Rs 64,180 crore.

To provide comprehensive primary healthcare services, Patel noted that “1,75,418 Ayushman Arogya Mandirs (AAMs) have been established and operationalised, to date”.

Meanwhile, the Centre has also established advanced diagnostic and research laboratories in the country.

Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Prataprao Jadhav informed that the Central Sector Scheme has been implemented to establish a robust network of laboratories for managing epidemics and natural disasters.

As part of this, the government has “established advanced viral research and diagnostic laboratories (VRDLs) for Rs 324 crore for the period from FY 2021-22 to 2025-26,” Jadhav stated in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Friday.

The MoS said that “163 VRDL has already been sanctioned”. Of these, 11 VRDLs have a regional status and are equipped with state-of-the-art Biosafety level 3 (BSL-3) facilities to detect high-risk infectious pathogens of public health significance, Jadhav said.

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