Union health budget fails the people again

The Health Budget announced earlier today is grossly inadequate, especially in light of the COVID pandemic, and falls well short of the goals of the National Health Policy, 2017, writes RAVI DUGGAL.

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WITH GDP [Gross Domestic Product] increase projected at over 9 per cent for 2021-22 and 8.5 per cent for 2022-23, as well as buoyant tax collections, especially through the GST [Goods and Services Tax], to which the poor contribute a huge proportion of their income, a huge surge in the magnitude of allocations for healthcare was expected from today's Union Budget. Yet again, however, the Centre has failed the people of the country at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic continues unabated and the demand for healthcare has grown significantly. In 2020-21, the government did make some effort at upping the budget estimate of Rs. 69,234 crores with an actual spending of Rs 82,820 crores: an increase of Rs. 13,563 crores to factor in COVID-19 related expenditures, which was Rs. 11,940 crores (Rs. 8205 under the National Health Mission [NHM]).

Also read: Deception in the Health Budget 2021-22

Declining spending on National Health Mission

The following Table gives the trends for the last eight years of spending for Health, specifically the NHM, by the Union Government. What the numbers tell is that growth during the COVID years has been flat, and the allocation for 2022-23 over the previous revised estimate [RE] has been a mere 0.67 per cent increase. If we factor inflation of over 5 per cent, then what we see is a real significant decline in the proposed healthcare budget.

Table: Union Government Health Budget and Expenditures 2015-2023 (in crore rupees)