Union Budget 2023: Health sector allocation sees 13% hike

The health sector has been allocated ₹89,155 crore in the Union Budget 2023-24, a hike of around 13 per cent as against ₹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.

"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 total budget allocation for the Ministry of AYUSH has increased by 20 per cent to Rs 3,647.50 crore.

Out of the total allocation of ₹89,155 crore for the health sector, ₹86,175 crore has been allocated to the Department of Health and Family Welfare and ₹2,980 crore to the Department of Health Research.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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