Hitting the right notes with the health budget

18 Feb Hitting the right notes with the health budget

Outcome and miss of budget 2021 with regard to Health Sector

• • Atma Nirbhar Bharat Abhiyaan packages which include several short-term and longer-term measures.
    • strengthen the health sector.
    • expand the coverage of the pneumococcal vaccine .
    •  Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana (PMANSBY
      • integrated public health laboratories and institutes of virology. 
  • Health Budget-> stagnant allocation for the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY
    • Economic Survey says-> 20% decline in the infant mortality rate between 2015–16 and 2019–20
  • 40% hike for the Ministry of Ayurveda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH).

• Production-Linked Incentive schemes 

• • • PLI will boost domestic manufacture of pharmaceuticals and medical devices. 

• Mission COVID Suraksha

• • • It will promote the development and testing of indigenous vaccine candidates. 
    • 92 countries have approached India for a COVID-19 vaccine
  •  Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Package
    • providing free foodgrains to 800 million 
  • One Nation One Ration Card’ scheme 
  • The National Health Policy (NHP), 2017
    • Which highlights the close links between health, water and sanitation.
  • Allocation forJal Jeevan Mission (Urban) is too adequate which will provide a good quality water supply.

• Water contaminated with heavy metals such as arsenic increases the risk of developing heart ailments, other stomach issues.

• States must also increase the spending on the health 
• According to the Fifteenth Finance Commission States increase expenditure on health to at least 8% of their budget by 2022.

The Hindu editorial

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Swarn Singh

Plutus IAS Current Affair Team Member