Despite significant promises in the interim Budget in February, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman did not make any major announcement in the health sector in this year’s Budget as allocation saw a marginal 1.7% increase with the outlay being Rs 87,656 crore for the year 2024-25. There was no mention of the government’s “encouragement” of HPV vaccination against cervical cancer, which was announced in the interim budget in February. Allocation for Ayushman Bharat health insurance scheme, which provides a cover of Rs 5 lakh to the poorest 40% in the country, went up to Rs 7,300 crore this year from Rs 7,200 crore last year. There was an increase in allocation for National Health Mission (NHM), which went up to Rs 36,000 crore this year compared to Rs 29,000 crore last year. The key components of the NHM are reproductive, maternal, newborn, child, and adolescent health services, non-communicable diseases control programme interventions up to district hospital level, and increasing access to integrated comprehensive primary health care in the country. Allocation for PM-Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission (PM-ABHIM) saw a dip from Rs 4,200 crore last year to Rs 3,200 crore this year. The revised estimate was only Rs 2,100 crore. The mission supports infrastructure development for health centres, labs, and critical care hospital blocks. It was launched during the pandemic to fill in the gaps in the healthcare infrastructure. There was also a dip in allocation for the other infrastructure mission — PM Swasthya Suraksha Yojana — which supports the setting up of new AIIMS and upgradation of district hospitals. The allocation for the scheme slumped from Rs 3,365 crore last year to Rs 2,200 crore this year. The allocation for Ayushman Bharat Digital Health (ABDM) mission went down from Rs 341 crore last year to Rs 200 crore this year. The mission was launched with an aim to set up a platform within the health ecosystem for a longitudinal electronic health record of every citizen. Significantly, the government also plans to roll out its vaccine management portal U-Win as part of its 100-day plan. The plan is to also link this portal to ABHA accounts created under the digital mission for seamless health records. Tele-mental health programme allocation contracted from Rs 133.7 crore to Rs 90 crore. In the 2022 Budget, the government had announced a national tele-mental health programme to be operated under a network of 23 mental health centres of excellence under NIMHANS. The announcement had come in backdrop of growing scientific evidence that shows mental health sequels post Covid-19 infection. No big announcements No big announcement for the health sector was seen in this year’s Budget allocations. The only mention of the sector in the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s speech was reduction in custom duty on three cancer drugs and two components for manufacturing of X-ray machines. The interim Budget, on the other hand, had seen big announcements such as expansion of the Ayushman Bharat insurance scheme to ASHA and anganwadi workers, roll out of vaccine management portal U-Win, and government’s encouragement for HPV vaccination against cervical cancer.
