The Union health ministry likely to get misery hike of 7.5 per cent in their annual health budget. During their recent meeting with the Planning Commission, the ministry was informed that the annual health plan allocation for 2013-2014 will go up just by 5 to 7.5 per cent.
In 2102, the health ministry had got a hike of 15 per cent in their budget. The budget for 2012-2013 had proposed to increase the outlay of the government’s flagship scheme — National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). For 2012-2013 an allocation of `30,477 crores was made as against the budget estimate of `24,315 crores in 2011-2012. This amounted to a jump of over 25 per cent.
Officials in the health ministry, however, are disappointed over the proposed budget for 2013-2014. “The budget is quite miser this time. However, this had not with us only, even the other ministries have got lesser allocation,” a senior official said.
Earlier, the Prime Minister had promised India’s health budget to go up from an abysmally low 1.1 per cent of GDP to 2.5 per cent of GDP in the 12th five year plan starting 2012.
The plan panel’s high level expert group had too earlier proposed to increase the health budget to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2017 and to at least 3 per cent of GDP by 2022.