Health Care Budget 2023 UPSC

Budget 2023 highlights for the Health care sector

Govt hikes health expenditure by 2.71% to Rs 88,956 crore.

The share of funds to the health sector in the overall Budget has marginally increased in FY24. It improved from 1.85% in FY23 to 1.98% in FY24

Of the ₹89,155 crore outlay, ₹86,175 crore has been earmarked for the Department of Health and Family Welfare and ₹2,980 crore for the Department of Health Research.

Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) which provides cashless health insurance of up to ₹5 lakh per family has been allocated ₹7,200 crore in FY 23-24, higher than last year’s ₹6,412 crore.

Facilities in selective ICMR labs will be made available for research by public and private medical college faculty and private sector R&D teams for encouraging collaborative research and innovation.
Dedicated multidisciplinary courses for medical devices will be supported in existing institutions to ensure the availability of skilled manpower for futuristic medical technologies, high-end manufacturing, and research.
A mission to eliminate sickle cell anemia by 2047 will be launched. It will entail awareness creation and universal screening of 7 crore people in the age group of 0-40 years in affected tribal areas.
Under health education and skilling, 157 New Nursing Colleges will be established in Co-location with existing 157 medical colleges established since 2014.

Budget allocation LAST YEAR

Health sector allocation up 16%. (The budget allocation increased from Rs 73,931 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 86200.65 crore in 2022-23.). Rs 83,000 crore have been allocated to the Department of Health and Family Welfare while Rs 3200 crore has been allocated to the Department of Health Research.

Critical analysis

Health allocation has always remained poor in India compared to many other emerging economies.

Government health expenditure in India is one of the lowest in the world, forming only 3.4% of total govt. expenditure in 2019. India has the lowest govt. health expenditure among BRICS countries.

The health outlay remained poor even as India has one of the highest out-of-pocket health expenditures (OOPE) in the world. In India, out-of-pocket health expenditure as a share of current health expenditure was 53.2% in 2019

India’s OOPE was the highest among all five BRICS countries

UPDATE: INTERIM BUDGET 2024 (HEALTH RELATED)

To establish more medical colleges by utilising existing hospital infrastructure and address manpower shortages while also increasing access to healthcare education.
Encouraging preventive cervical cancer vaccination for young girls aged 9 to 14
Extending health coverage under the Ayushman Bharat scheme to all ASHA and Anganwadi
Bringing maternal and child healthcare schemes under one umbrella
Upgradation of Anganwadi centers under SAKSHAM ANGANWADI and POSHAN 2.0 will be expedited to improve nutritional delivery, early childhood care and development.
A newly designed U-Win platform for managing immunization and intensified efforts of Mission Indradanush will be rolled out.