Budget Update: Spending On medical and public health down from Rs 74,820 crore to Rs 41,011 crore

New Delhi: The spending on 'medical and public health' has been reduced from Rs 74,820 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 41,011 crore in 2022-23 due to "lower requirement of vaccination", according to Budget documents.

The health sector has been allocated Rs 86200.65 crore in the Union Budget, a hike of 16 percent over Rs 73,931 crore in 2021-22.

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However, as per the Expenditure Profile document in the chapter titled Statement of Major Variations of Expenditure Between BE 2021-22 and 2022-23, the spending on 'medical and public health' has been reduced from Rs 74,820 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 41,011 crore in 2022-23.

The reason for the cut back of Rs 33,809 crore, it stated, was "lower requirement of vaccination".

India's COVID-19 vaccination coverage has crossed 167.21 crore the Health ministry said on Tuesday.

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Medical Dialogues team had recently reported that Smt Nirmala Sitharaman highlighted that the initiatives of the last year's Budget have seen significant progress and have been provided with adequate allocations in this Budget as well. The strengthening of health infrastructure, speedy implementation of the vaccination programme, and the nation-wide resilient response to the current wave of the pandemic, are evident for all, she noted.

This year the Union Budget has put extra focus on the mental health of the people of the country as the Finance Minister made an announcement of launching he National Tele Mental Health Program in her speech. Apart from this, Sitharaman has also announced about rolling out National Digital Health Ecosystem in the budget.

While presenting the budget, the Sitharaman has also mentioned about rolling out an open platform for the National Digital Health Ecosystem this year.