Health Care Budget 2022 UPSC

Budget 2022 highlights for the Health care sector

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.

2 Major areas of Focus

1) Digital health care

2) Mental health

1. Focus on Digital Health care (Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission)

• Open platform for National Digital Health Ecosystem
• • Digital registries of health providers and health facilities
  • Unique health identity
  • Consent framework
  • Universal access to health facilities

• The National Health Authority, which supervises the running of Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna, the government’s health insurance scheme, is tasked with implementing the digital mission.

2. National Tele Mental Health Programme

NEED

• Beyond the pandemic as well, according to the World Health Organization, the economic loss due to mental health conditions between 2012-2030 is estimated to be $ 1.03 trillion in India.
• According to the Indian Journal of Psychiatry in 2019, even before the pandemic, at least 50 million children in India were affected by mental health issues and 80 – 90 per cent have not sought support.
• It is a conscious investment into the human capital of the country and an effort in the direction of improving the quality of life of the citizens.
• The Centre informed Rajya Sabha in December 2021 that 10.6 per cent of adults in India face some kind of mental disorder.

OPERATIONS

• Network of 23 tele-mental health centres of excellence (CoEs)
• NIMHANS – nodal centre
• International Institute of Information Technology-Bangalore (IIITB) – technology support.
• The Karnataka Mental Healthcare Management System or e-Manas, which is being used in the state, will eventually be used in these 23 CoEs too.
• It maintains medical records, advanced directives and details of nominated representatives of patients, apart from a registry of mental health facilities and professionals and is linked to the mental health review board to address grievances.
• They will monitor them, identify sites for the helpline and will also do operational research to see how well it’s working and what changes are needed in the rollout of this programme.
• Counsellors will identify people with severe problems and emergency cases who immediately need to be referred to a specialised centre.
• The CoE specialist will attend to calls that need immediate attention and advise patients on where to go
• Toll-free number finds a mention in the health ministry’s website, the CoWIN portal and the counselling is available in 13 languages.
• More than 650 doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, social workers, counsellors and psychiatric nurses working in government hospitals across India (25 from Nimhans) are involved in the helpline.