HEALTH BUDGET 2017

Let’s look at the health budget as a case in point. Of the total HFW budget of Rs 47352.51
crore National Health Mission (NHM) gets a share of 56 per cent or Rs. 26690.70 crore and
this was 31 per cent more than the previous years budget estimate. Within NHM the largest
share goes to National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) of Rs. 21188.65 crore but only Rs.725
crore for National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) and the latter saw a decline of 24 per cent
from the previous fiscal year. The upgradation of district hospitals as teaching hospitals gets a
huge increase from Rs 445 crore in 2016-17 to Rs 3300 crore in 2017-18. Similarly the
allocation for new AIIMS in states gets a 62 per cent jump from Rs. 2450 crore in 2016-17 to
Rs. 3975 crore in 2017-18.
So these are the highlights of the Union health budget but overall the Centre’s contribution is
a mere 0.28 per cent of GDP and this is certainly not adequate for moving towards universal
access to healthcare. The HLEG and 12th Plan had envisaged a minimum of 2.5 per cent of
GDP for health with at least 50 per cent or 1.25 per cent of GDP coming from the Centre, a
clear shortfall of 1 per cent of GDP. So while we can feel good about the 28 per cent jump we
should not forget the stark reality of the huge underinvestment in public health. Indeed miles
to go for universal health care for all.