Health financing redefined
Towards a healthy nation - Channi Anand×
Finance Minister has given a long overdue focus on the health sector, which will speed our journey to affordable healthcare
The Finance Minister could well be regarded as a true blue public health advocate. For several decades, the public health community has argued against healthcare being viewed predominantly as illness care. The Finance Minister has seized on these arguments to present a broader package of health and wellness programmes in her Budget.
This package also enabled her to smartly claim a 137 per cent increase in allocation for health! Those who expected a big boost to the existing programmes of the Health Ministry were due for disappointment, as the increase is only 9.6 per cent. Inclusive of the Departments of Health Research and AYUSH, which see larger increments, the allocation to the Ministry rises only by 11 per cent. Covid-19 vaccines get ₹35,000 crore. A new centrally sponsored
The Centre’s Economic Survey has attributed Bengal’s poor performance on certain primary health measures to the state’s decision not to adopt the nationwide health insurance scheme that covers hospitalisation costs for poor households, baffling health experts who say the connection is far-fetched.
The survey, released by the Union finance ministry on Friday, has said Assam, Bihar and Sikkim, which have adopted the Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana (PMJAY), have shown greater improvements in infant mortality, family planning services and vaccinations than has Bengal.
But sections of health experts and health economists have questioned the wisdom of citing the PMJAY a scheme that pays for hospitalisation as a source of gains in primary health measures. One expert said the PMJAY chapter’s reference to Bengal appeared to have been crafted with “a political motivation” to cast Bengal in poor light.
Total allocation for health ministry up only 7%, no increase in budget for Ayushman Bharat
Allocation for health ministry stands at Rs 73,931.77 cr , up from Rs 69,000 cr last year. AYUSH ministry budget stands at Rs 2,970 cr, up from last year’s Rs 2,122 cr.
Abantika Ghosh 1 February, 2021 3:40 pm IST Text Size:
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New Delhi: Despite Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s stress on health and wellness being one of the six pillars of Atmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India), the actual increase in the allocation for the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is a modest 7 per cent, according to the documents of Budget 2021.
The 137 per cent hike that the finance minister announced includes sundry other allocations such as for water supply, sanitation, and mitigation of air pollution etc bundled under a new head of “health and wellness”.
At 3.7%, insurance penetration a cause for concern
Despite making improvements in the last two decades, the performance of the insurance sector is still way below than in other Asian economies.
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| A+A A- By Express News Service
Despite making improvements in the last two decades, the performance of the insurance sector is still way below than in other Asian economies. This was revealed by the recently-released Economic Survey. Two key indicators – Insurance Penetration and Insurance Density – used to assess the performance and potential of the insurance peg India’s growth much below Malaysia, Thailand, and China.
According to the survey, insurance penetration in India increased to 3.76 per cent in 2019 from the 2.71 per cent in 2001. However, it was much lower than Malaysia, Thailand, and China’s, which clocked 4.72, 4.99 and 4.30 per cent, respectively in 2019.
Budget 2021: PM Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana to boost health infrastructure
2021 budget allocation for healthcare sector: The budget, which allocated Rs 2,23,846 crore for health and wellbeing launched a new centrally sponsored scheme, PM AtmaNirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana, with an outlay of about Rs 64,180 crores over 6 years
PB Jayakumar | February 1, 2021 | Updated 16:24 IST
In February 2018, the Indian Government had announced Ayushman Bharat Program (ABP) with two components of Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs), to deliver comprehensive primary health care (PHC) services to the entire population
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman s Budget for 2021-22 has given an unprecedented boost to create healthcare infrastructure in the country, a sector ignored over the years for many decades, feel experts.