With a marginal increase in health allocation made by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in the Union Budget on Wednesday, the Health Ministry set itself an ambitious target of eliminating kala-Azar, filariasis and measles.
“The Government has prepared an action plan to eliminate kala-Azar and filariasis by 2017, leprosy by 2018 and measles by 2020. Elimination of tuberculosis by 2025 is also targeted,” said Mr. Jaitley.
WHO assessment
The Health Ministry has set itself the target of eliminating tuberculosis when the latest World Health Organisation (WHO) assessment revealed that India will not be on track to eliminate TB even by 2050.
Health experts say that the increase of 23% in the Budget, most of which is towards the flagship programme, National Health Mission, makes these targets unrealistic. “I do not understand how they have arrived at these targets. We are not aware of the Ministry’s action plan. Further, it is impossible to eliminate diseases at these rates. No technical body is going to accept this position,” said Sakthivel Selvaraj, health economist with think tank Public Health Foundation of India.
The budgetary allocation for health has gone up from ₹38,343 crore (revised estimate) to ₹47,352 crore. Further, Mr. Jaitley announced creation of 5,000 postgraduate seats in medical colleges to meet doctor shortage, while adding that the government would set up two more AIIMS-like institutions. Currently, 18 such institutions, modelled on the lines of All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi, have been commissioned.
“We need to ensure adequate availability of specialist doctors to strengthen secondary and tertiary health care. We will take steps to create additional 5,000 postgraduate seats per annum. In addition, steps will be taken to roll out DNB courses in big district hospitals; strengthen PG teaching in select ESI and municipal corporation hospitals; and encourage reputed private hospitals to start DNB courses. We will work with State Governments to take these tasks forward. The Government is committed to taking necessary steps for structural transformation of the regulatory framework of medical education and practice in India,” said Mr. Jaitley.
Building infrastructure
Industry experts were also disappointed as the Budget overlooked investing in building infrastructure.
“I am disappointed to note that healthcare outlay in the budget hasn’t been touched and it remains largely under-funded. There is no announcement regarding granting healthcare industry the status of infrastructure industry, a long-standing demand of the sector,” said Rajit Mehta, Managing Director and CEO, Max Healthcare.
The government has announced another conditional cash transfer scheme similar to the Janani Suraksha yojana (JSY), where financial assistance will be given to pregnant women. Under this scheme, ₹6,000 each will be transferred directly to bank accounts of pregnant women who undergo institutional delivery and vaccinate their children.
