Health and Well-being budget 2021

    In her budget speech, the finance minister said the government expected to spend ₹2.23 lakh crore in the coming year on “health and well-being”. This would translate to a 135 percent increase from last year. However, the figure also includes Rs 60,030 crore allocation made towards drinking water and sanitation, a Rs 2,700 crore outlay on nutrition, and both of these are handled by separate ministries than health. It also includes Rs 49,000 crore as Finance Commission grants and Rs 35,000 crore toward the vaccination program against Covid-19. The budget allocation for the Department of Health and Family Welfare is Rs. 71,269 crores, which is an increase of 9.6 percent over the budget allocation of Rs. 65,012 crores last year. However, this too is lower than the revised estimates for the financial year 2020-21 at Rs. 78,866 crores. The allocation towards the government’s flagship health insurance scheme - Ayushman Bharat-PM Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY) – has remained unchanged at Rs. 6,400 crores this year in Nirmala Sitharaman’s union budget 2021-22. The scheme aims to reduce the out-of-pocket private expenditure on health that has been pushing several people into poverty, especially during and after the covid-19 pandemic.

     Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that the government will spend Rs 64,180 crore to improve the primary, secondary, and tertiary healthcare system in the country. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman proposed ₹2,23,846 crore budget outlay for health and well-being for 2021-22, compared to ₹94,452 crores in the current fiscal, registering an increase of 137%. Ms. Sitharaman has also proposed a ₹35,000 crore outlay for COVID-19 vaccines for the next fiscal and announced the roll-out of pneumococcal vaccines across the country to help save over 50,000 deaths annually. This is in addition to the National Health Mission, announces FM Sitharaman. Besides, there will be Rs 35,000 crore for Covid-19 vaccines, announces the finance minister during her Budget presentation. The 'PM Atmanirbhar Swasth Bharat Yojana' Sitharaman said that the scheme will focus on developing institutions for detection and cure of new and emerging diseases. The scheme will support over 17,000 rural and 11,000 urban wellness centers. This will be an addition to the national health mission, she said. the government will provide Rs 35,000 crore for Covid-19 vaccines in 2021-22. Currently, India has given restricted emergency use approvals to two vaccines - the indigenously made Covaxin made by Bharat Biotech and Oxford's Covishield manufactured by the Serum Institute of India. Two more India made Covid-19 vaccines will be available soon. 

    It is also looking at establishing 12 central institutions while strengthening the National Center for Disease Control, expanding of the health information portal to all states and UTs to connect all health labs. She also said that the GOI will be merging the supplementary nutrition program and Poshan Abhiyan to launch Mission Poshan 2.0 which aims to strengthen the nutritional content,  delivery, and outreach. The National Health Mission is a program that strives to provide accessible, affordable, and quality universal healthcare to those in need of it. In the current FY budget, a National Commission for Allied Healthcare Professionals Bill has been introduced to ensure transparent and efficient regulation of 56 allied healthcare professions.

Science and Health budget Highlights

Integrated public health labs to be set up in each district; 3,382 block public health units in 11 states

Government to spend Rs 1.41 lakh crore for Urban Clean India Mission

The Urban Swachh Bharat 2.0 Mission to be launched at an outlay of Rs 1.41 lakh crore over five years and will focus on complete fecal sludge management, wastewater treatment, source segregation, 

management of waste from urban construction, bioremediation of legacy dump sites.

Jal Jeevan Mission Urban to have an outlay of Rs 2.87 lakh crore, with 2.86 crore households to get tap connections in 500 Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) cities, over five years.

New health infrastructure scheme with a higher outlay of Rs 61,000 crore

Government to set up 17,000 rural and 11,000 urban health and wellness centers Integrated public health labs will be set up in each district. New portal to collect data on gig workers, migrant laborers, and construction workers which will be used to provide health and insurance facilities.

 42 urban centers with a population of million people and more will be allocated 2,217 crores to deal with air pollution.

The GOI will also set up a regional World Health Organisation office, nine bio-safety level-3 laboratories, and four regional National Institutes of Virology

Deep Ocean Mission with an outlay of more than Rs 4,000 crore over five years, to be launched, for deep-ocean exploration and ocean biodiversity conversation

Survey of Villages Abadi and Mapping with Improvised Technology in Village Areas scheme (SVAMITVA) to be extended during 2021-22 to cover all states and union territories

An infusion of Rs 1,000 crore will be injected into the Solar Energy Corporation of India and Rs 1,500 crore to Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency Limited to boost the green energy sector.

A pneumococcal vaccine which is limited to just five States will be rolled out across the country, preventing more than 50,000 child deaths annually

(SOURCE: Various News papers wiz Quint, Business Insider, and so on)