Budget: Health sector allocation sees 13% hike; mission to eliminate sickle cell anaemia announced

New Delhi, Feb. 1 (PTI): The health sector has been allocated Rs 89,155 crore in the Union Budget 2023-24, a hike of around 13 per cent over Rs 79,145 crore allocated in 2022-23, with the government also announcing a mission to eliminate sickle cell anaemia by 2047.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman presented the Union Budget for 2023-24 on Wednesday and said 157 new nursing colleges will be established in co-location with the existing 157 medical colleges established since 2014.

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“A mission to eliminate sickle cell anaemia by 2047 will be launched. It will entail awareness creation, universal screening of 7 crore people in the age group of 0-40 years in affected tribal areas, and counselling through collaborative efforts of central ministries and state governments,” she said.

The finance minister said facilities in select Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) laboratories will be made available for research by public and private medical college faculty members and private sector research and development teams for encouraging collaborative research and innovation.

The budget allocation for the AYUSH ministry has been increased from INR 2,845.75 crore to INR 3,647.50 crore, recording a 28 per cent increase.

Out of INR 89,155 crore, INR 86,175 crore has been allocated to the Department of Health and Family Welfare, while INR 2,980 crore to the Department of Health Research.

From the new financial year, the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) has been bifurcated into two sub schemes, the first being the PMSSY itself and the second one is the establishment expenditure of 22 new AIIMS for which INR 6,835 crore has been allocated.

The budget allocation for the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana for 2023-2024 is INR 3,365 crore.

Among these central sector schemes, the budget allocation for the National Health Mission has been increased from INR 28,974.29 crore in 2022-23 to INR 29,085.26 crore in 2023-24, and for Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna (PM-JAY), it has been hiked from INR 6,412 crore to INR 7,200 crore.

The allocation for the National Digital Health Mission NHM has been increased from INR 140 crore to INR 341.02 crore.

For the National Tele Mental Health Programme, the budget allocation has been increased from INR 121 crore to INR 133.73 crore.

The budget allocation for autonomous bodies goes up from INR 10,348.17 crore in 2022-23 to INR 17,322.55 crore in 2023-24. Among the autonomous bodies, the allocation for AIIMS, New Delhi has been reduced from INR 4,400.24 crore to INR 4,134.67 crore.

The allocation for ICMR has been increased from INR 2,116.73 crore to INR 2,359.58 crore.